Disclaimer:This is a work of fan fiction using characters and/or scenes from the show RWBY, which is trademarked by Rooster Teeth, and the video game Persona 3, which is trademarked by Atlus. I do not, in anyway, claim ownership over the characters, the world, the story, or any other aspect belonging to either one. This story should not be, in any way, considered canon. This story is written strictly for entertainment and not for profit.
Warning: This story will exhibit slight differences in character behavior since I will be taking the liberty to fill in blank points in the pasts of various characters. As such, expect that many characters will not behave exactly as their canon selves. I will attempt to keep their core personalities intact, but slight changes will be unavoidable.
Warning 2: With the ongoing status of RWBY Volume 4, it's to be expected that many of my ideas will go against what is canon, such as when more of each character's respective pasts are revealed. I will do my best to incorporate what I can, but expect that many will be blended with my own ideas or perhaps even ignored completely if incorporating it will be detrimental to my existing story plans.
SURPRISE EVERYONE!
Bet you're all surprised to see this chapter. Honestly, I already finished this chapter back when I posted the last chapter. In fact, the previous chapter was done a week before I posted it. I'd been planning on this since before the holidays hit so that you won't have to wait more than a month between chapters.
I just waited until now to post it as a surprise for everyone. It was pretty tiring writing this in less than a week considering the increased workload at… well… work, but inspiration and motivation work pretty well with an energy drink or two. That and a nice, hot, home-cooked meal. And a hot shower. XD
Before the usual opening talk, there are a couple of guest reviews I need to respond to.
To FallenHallowEnd, unfortunately that is not a request I can grant.
To Valphorion, I don't know where you got the idea that Minato could possibly return to life. Nowhere in the story did he or anybody say that he will return. At most, Ryoji mentions Elizabeth searching for something to help Minato. The word 'help' could be interpreted in many ways and not necessarily meaning that she wanted to find a way to bring him back to life. At no point did I mention or hint at Minato returning.
To Solar, with regards to characters sometimes being slightly OOC, please refer to the warning at the top of the page, just below the disclaimer. As to the use of Author Notes both at the beginning and the end, that's just a personal preference of mine. And writing it in bold makes it easier for people to skip if they don't want to read it.
Now that we've got those out of the way, I just have two things to say before we get to the story itself.
First, I'm sure many of you will enjoy this chapter as we will finally see some fights between SEES and their teammates. Only this time, they have partial use of their Personas due to the successful first test. Though I'm sure there's still one or two people who'll find something to gripe about. Honestly, I'm expecting it with how the first fight ends. XP
And second…
ENJOY THE CHAPTER AND THE HOLIDAYS EVERYONE! MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR! XD
Chapter 13 – The Crumbling Tower
October 30, XX13
Sixteen students gathered in one of Beacon's many training rooms. It was an unusual number, as teams often only trained amongst themselves or with one other team. Four teams gathering together to train was most definitely far from the norm. Yet, when they passed by the attendant at the front desk, the man barely reacted to what would normally be a strange sight and just assigned them a room to use.
After all, it was a Friday. And those who knew them well enough knew that all four teams trained together every Friday morning. But since they trained at a time when second through fourth-year students were in class, only their fellow first-years could satisfy their curiosity and catch a glimpse of how the Aura-less went about their training.
Normally, nobody minded if someone came to watch provided they asked. All they would see was an unsupervised version of their normal Combat class. That, and there were no limitations on who would fight alongside who. The boundaries between the teams were broken and one could find themselves facing off against their own partner. Asides from such differences, the sessions were exactly like their Combat class.
Today, however, was different. The few who continued to watch for whatever reason would have find the normally unlocked doors locked from within. An inquiry at the front desk would reveal that the four teams had requested privacy for the day's training as some of their members did not want others to know of their Semblance. Nobody contested that and the few who came walked away without any complaints.
Semblance was a highly personal thing for some people. In the past, it was often said that Semblance was a reflection of one's true self, that the form one's Semblance took was derived from the kind of person they were. Such beliefs were never completely proven to be true, nor were they proven to be false, but the existence of such a belief bore consequences that were carried down to this day.
Regardless of whether or not one believed this to be true, many Huntsmen and Huntresses, and even the trainees, respected someone else's desire to keep their Semblance to themselves. Even if not for the same reason as those in the past, a Semblance was considered a private matter. Shared only if one wished to do so.
Even Beacon's staff respected that boundary. A student may be asked in private, as the knowledge could help their combat teachers in their aim to better a student's abilities, but the student was under no obligation to answer. Some did not mind answering, others answered only after they learned to trust their teacher with the knowledge, and some never spoke of their Semblance at all, even if they were to display it during training or a mission.
There were, of course, those who openly used their Semblance, not really caring one way or another if everyone knew what they were capable of. But even they would respect someone's choice not to reveal their own. Far and few, indeed, were those who would insist on knowing someone else's Semblance.
And Mitsuru took advantage of that fact to ensure that nobody would enter the training room that day. It wasn't really a lie or anything of that sort. Because today, for the first time since they began their weekly training sessions, SEES would be using their 'Semblance'. A fact that had just about everyone excited. More so since they would be going one-on-one with an Aura-user to get a feel for how such a fight would go.
"Alright, so how are we doing this?" Akihiko asked Mitsuru even as the others made final checks on their equipment, and Fuuka set up the training area.
And that was the question of the day, one that she had already considered and had a partial answer for. They had already discussed that Fuuka would sit out this particular training session. Instead, she would be helping them the way she always did. Providing detailed information on their opponents. Not that said opponents would be aware of this.
For the moment, they would be keeping that a secret from those not in the know. They would approach this like any other combat situation and use any and every trick they had up their sleeves to overcome a superior foe. Rather, Juno's presence would be explained as an additional method of gathering information on how Persona affected Aura. It was true, to some extent. It just wasn't the entirety of the truth.
Some match-ups were easy enough, since pitting teammates against one another would serve the additional purpose of strengthening their own bonds and understanding one another's fighting style, but with Fuuka sitting out that left seven Persona-users to fight eight Aura-users. How would she…
"Akihiko, who would you say would be the most dangerous person to pair up with Pyrrha?"
The question surprised the boxer but only briefly. His eyes turned to the Aura-users of the group, his mind quickly going over everything he knew about them, from their personalities, to their fighting styles, and to their abilities. He also reviewed previous training sessions, specifically the matches where Pyrrha had been paired to work with someone else from another team. With all that information, the answer came to him in less than half of a minute.
"Weiss. Blake comes second if it helps."
Mitsuru nodded. "Agreed." Clearly they were of the same opinion. "But in this case, I believe pairing her with Weiss would work best. They worked well enough together a few weeks back and Weiss's versatility with her Dust and Semblance, paired with Pyrrha's vast combat experience, is easily one of the most dangerous combinations in the whole group."
Showing, once again, just how long they had been working together, it barely took Akihiko a second to understand what Mitsuru was planning. "Do you think Aigis can make up for the disadvantage with Athena? In terms of skill, she and Pyrrha are pretty much equal. If she went all-out I'm sure she could beat Pyrrha handily. But even if she kept Athena summoned the entire time, I don't think that'll be enough to off-set the addition of Weiss. Equal numbers don't necessarily mean an equal fight."
"I know," Mitsuru replied with a knowing smile. Then she turned her gaze to the side. "I already have an idea for that."
The grin on Akihiko's face when he saw where she was looking would have sent shivers down Weiss and Pyrrha's spines. The boxer was clearly in full agreement.
Eventually, everyone finished checking their equipment and gathered in front of Mitsuru and Akihiko. Looking around them, the two seniors of the whole group could see the excitement glimmering in all their eyes. Surprisingly, none looked more excited than Pyrrha herself even though she tried to be discrete about it.
"Today, we'll be conducting one-on-one training matches. A Persona-user against an Aura-user." They already knew that, of course, but it didn't hurt to reiterate. "Given that Fuuka will not be fighting, there will be some exceptions, which you'll find out later on. For now, Yang." Enthusiastic lilac met calm wine red. "You and I will take the first match. Yukari, Blake, the two of you will go next."
Mitsuru's brows furrowed slightly when she caught the brief flash of relief on Yang's face. Given that Yang would not be fighting Blake, the only reason she would feel relieved was if… Mitsuru's eyes moved to Yukari, who was conversing with Blake. Was if she didn't want to fight Yukari.
But that made little sense. Despite Yang's lack of a more… disciplined fighting style, she was easily one of the strongest in the group. Literally so. Her feats of strength never ceased to amaze and even Pyrrha had admitted that she would not want to be on the receiving end of one of Yang's punches. So there was absolutely no reason for her to be apprehensive about fighting Yukari, who was mainly a long-ranged fighter. And even if she kept her distance, Yang could close that gap quickly because of her Aura.
With that possibility disproven, it meant that something happened between the two of them, something that bothered Yang but not Yukari. At least, not to the point that she would want to avoid Yang. She'd have to investigate that at a later time. For now, she had a fight to look forward to.
Soon, Mitsuru and Yang were standing inside the combat area. Yang deployed Ember Celica while Mitsuru drew her rapier in her right hand and her Evoker in her left. Outside the hard-light walls of the training area, Fuuka stood inside Juno, ready to provide assistance while everyone else watched in anticipation.
"You wanna call out your Persona now?" Yang offered.
In response, Mitsuru grinned. "You seem quite confident that I will need the handicap. In that case, I suppose I'll teach you a lesson in underestimating your opponent." Raising her Evoker to her head, Mitsuru called out her Persona's name. "Artemisia!"
Yang watched in wonder as Artemisia came into existence. Seeing the whip-wielding Persona, clad in an elegant midnight blue dress, black and gold armor, and a red opera mask with a pointed nose, she couldn't help but muse that it somehow seemed to fit Mitsuru. The dress representing the young woman's grace and elegance, the armor representing the strength she bore as a fighter despite her feminine charms, and the mask – which Yang often felt like was something only the snobby, upper class wore – representing her nobility, both in action and, in a way, her heritage.
Unfortunately, that brief moment in which she admired her team leader's Persona cost her dearly. All of a sudden, the air around her grew cold. And before she could react, she found herself encased in a massive block of ice. She mustered her strength but found herself unable to move. Just when she was about to try harder, the block of ice shattered, large chunks of ice crashing against her Aura and draining a fairly large portion of it.
She chuckled, amused at Mitsuru's sneaky tactic. "So that's how you- woah!"
Yang twisted and leapt aside as Mitsuru's rapier passed by right where her chest had been, the blade scraping along her left arm. She was about to retaliate when something large struck her right side. Pushed back in Mitsuru's direction, she found herself assaulted by multiple rapid thrusts of the redhead's rapier as well as the occasional cut, the damage absorbed by her Aura even though she felt the force of each blow.
She raised her arms in defense, the latest attack glancing off her gauntlet. She prepared to counterattack when Mitsuru stepped back. In turn, Yang stepped forward, leading with her left, only to trip when she found her right foot encased in ice and stuck to the floor. She caught herself, planting her left foot solidly on the ground, but once again found herself under assault.
She swung wildly as a defensive measure, the rapier putting Mitsuru outside of the blonde's striking range, but the redhead carefully deflected the blows with her rapier and maneuvered around them, repeatedly hitting Yang with precise thrusts that snaked past her guard. Lilac eyes glanced down and she fired Ember Celica at the ground just in front of Mitsuru's feet. As expected, the redhead leapt back to avoid the explosion even though the shot wouldn't have hit her – Yang didn't dare so much as risk aiming directly at someone without Aura – giving Yang time to aim her other gauntlet at her ice-encased leg.
But just when she fired, the ice shattered on its own, causing her own shot to strike her leg rather than the ice and blowing up on contact. Thankfully, she had Aura otherwise she might have seriously injured herself, if she didn't completely blow off her own leg from the knee down. Before she could make sense of what just happened, she spotted something flying at her from the side. Crouching down, she watched as Artemisia's whip sailed over her head, then turned her attention to Mitsuru, who sought to take advantage of Yang's distracted state once more.
This time, however, Yang was ready. She rose to her feet and prepared to meet Mitsuru's charge, only for something small and white to explode right in front of her eyes. She flinched and shut her eyes out of reflex, but it was too late as something had gotten into her eyes. Something cold.
She brought a hand up to her face but Mitsuru reached her before she could attempt to clear her vision. Her rapier's tip, and sometimes the edge, struck Yang several times as she stumbled back blindly, unable to fight back without her sight. Hoping to gain some breathing room, Yang threw several wild punches in Mitsuru's general direction, hoping to force the older girl back.
Her goal had only been to gain some space, or at least time to clear out whatever had gotten into her eyes – most likely ice. Yet, much to her horror, her fist struck something. Something soft and fleshy.
"Ngh!"
A voice let out a brief grunt of pain. A voice she recognized as Mitsuru's. Who else could it be, after all? Yang opened her eyes slowly, the tiny bits of ice having finally melted away and clearing her vision. Again, she was thankful she had Aura. She found Mitsuru crouched on the ground not far away, her back turned to Yang and her left hand, the Evoker still grasped within, raised to her face.
"M-Mitsuru!" she shouted in panic, rushing over to her team leader. She hadn't been attacking with as much force as she usually did, but as the second strongest in class in terms of raw power even a punch at half-power would hurt. Never mind what it would do to someone without Aura like Mitsuru. "Mitsuru, are you al-"
The redhead's leg suddenly kicked back, crashing into Yang's shin and knocking her leg out from under her. She caught herself with her hands before she fell to the ground, yet Mitsuru suddenly spun around, the butt of her Evoker smashing into the side of Yang's face. And as she stumbled back, Artemisia's whip came in once more, smashing into her right side and sending her flying off her feet.
As Yang rolled to a stop, she felt her Semblance trigger as her body accumulated enough 'damage'. So when Artemisia's whip came flying in again, the blonde merely raised an arm and stopped it before it could it her. She grabbed the whip, which was almost as large as her own thighs, with both hands, and started to pull, feeling Mitsuru's Persona engage her in a tug-of-war. Yet she was stronger still. And slowly, she could feel the whip moving in her direction. She planted her feet and adjusted her stance just a little bit. Then, with a loud cry, she gave a mighty heave-
-And stumbled back, arms waving around wildly, as the whip, and the Persona, disappeared. And once again, before she could recover, Mitsuru was on her, rapid thrusts and the occasional slash beating on the armor that was her Aura. The force behind each blow was relatively weak, but it was enough to keep her off balance. She hadn't fallen yet, but neither could she regain her balance.
"NNNGGGGGGGG! THAT'S IT!" Yang stomped down her foot, forcing herself to regain her balance, before lashing out with a backhand. Mitsuru leapt back several times even before the arm lashed out, giving the raging blonde a wide berth.
'This is getting ridiculous,' Yang thought with a frown, facing her team leader and getting back into a proper stance. She was faster and stronger than Mitsuru. Not to put down the nineteen-year-old former heiress, but even with her Persona, there was simply no way she could be beating Yang this badly, not even when she was holding back to avoid hurting the older girl. She had landed one hit on the redhead, but Yang now suspected that she had allowed it to happen for the sake of drawing her in.
Yang leapt aside just as the spot she had occupied earlier turned into a block of ice. Shortly afterwards, three more blocks appeared, surrounding her. She raised her arms, knowing what was coming next. Sure enough, all four blocks exploded one after another, pelting her with ice. She was prepared this time. Her fists lashed out to shatter any blocks and shards that came her way while her feet stepped this way and that to avoid the rest.
Yet each time a block exploded, another one took its place. Clearly Mitsuru was hoping to slowly deplete her Aura. She didn't know why the redhead didn't just freeze her in place like she had done at the beginning of the fight, but this strategy of hers was still effective. Not only did it pin her down, but she couldn't avoid every piece of ice that came her way.
Her fists focused on the larger pieces and her feet brought her out of the way of those she couldn't smash in time. But that only applied to those she could see. Her back and sides were constantly being struck by the smaller pieces that she deemed insignificant. But even she knew that all of that would accumulate. She could literally feel it.
She could feel the power growing within her with every piece of ice that struck her, regardless of how big or small it was. And all that power was just waiting to burst out at the first opportunity. She knew she should stop now. It was dangerous to face off against someone without Aura in her Semblance-empowered state. And yet…
She shook her head at her own thoughts, her glowing blonde mane following the motions even as she blew apart another large piece that came flying towards her head. She couldn't accept this. She wouldn't. Mitsuru was far from weak despite her natural handicap, but Yang shouldn't be losing this badly.
Losing the fight had been a possibility since none of them had ever fought SEES while the latter used their Personas. But there was just no way Yang would accept the loss when the only blow she landed was one that Mitsuru allowed to land. Losing against Pyrrha without landing a single blow was bad enough, but against Mitsuru? No. There was no way her pride would allow such a loss. Not now.
Her muscles tensed as she made her decision, crimson eyes sought out their wine red counterparts. A split-second after their eyes met, another block appeared in front of her as though to deny her even a single glimpse of her foe. Instead, she took it as an invitation.
Ignoring everything else, Yang aimed both gauntlets behind her and fired just as she leapt forward, boosting the speed and distance of her charge, and providing her with enough momentum to smash through the large block in front of her before it could shatter on its own. Her eyes caught the brief look of surprise on Mitsuru's face before the latter refocused on the fight and raised her rapier.
Yang didn't stop her charge, building up the momentum she lost by smashing through the ice. There was no way she could win if she kept her distance. She needed to get up close and personal. As though reading her mind, Mitsuru charged forward as well, eyes locked onto one another. Mitsuru readied her rapier for an attack. Yang drew her fist back. When they met, both weapons shot forward.
And Yang's punch flew through empty space as Mitsuru suddenly disappeared from her sight. Without a target, her punch threw her off balance, all her momentum from the charge being thrown into that one punch. She braced herself even as she hurried to regain her balance, knowing that the counterattack would be coming soon. She just didn't expect to take the full force and weight of a charging Persona head-on.
Her back slammed against the hard-light wall after her impromptu flight. She caught herself on her hands and knees as she hit the floor, but then the air around her limbs shimmered and all four limbs were encased in separate blocks of ice, each one attached to the floor. Grunting with effort, she broke her right arm out of its prison, the strength she gained from her Semblance more than enough to break through. Then the air shimmered again, coating the other three limbs in a second layer of ice and her right arm up to her elbow in a new layer.
Twice more the air shimmered, and two more layers of ice coated her limbs, each layer encroaching higher up her limbs, until only her torso remained free. And still she struggled, channeling as much strength as she could into her limbs. She could feel the innermost layer weakening from her efforts, could feel the cracks beginning to form. Yet as she made progress, a large shadow loomed over her and she glanced up to see both Mitsuru and her Persona a short distance in front of her, only a faint sheen of perspiration glossing Mitsuru's forehead.
She expected her leader to begin attacking once more, to drain her Aura as fast as she could to end the fight. She didn't expect Mitsuru to sheathe her rapier and un-summon Artemisia. At the same time, all the ice surrounding her shattered, pelting her with both sharp and blunt the pieces. At the same time, a loud, annoying buzzer rang out, signaling the end of the fight as her Aura dropped below what was considered 'safe'.
Outside the barrier, many eyes, including some belonging to members of SEES, were wide open along with their respective mouths at the one-sided beat down they had just witnessed.
"Do you know why you lost, Yang?"
The aforementioned blonde sighed as Mitsuru addressed her. The two of them were sitting on a bench far from the others, who were watching Blake and Yukari's fight. Yang had been the first to take a seat, marching away wordlessly after exiting the training area.
Mitsuru followed after letting everyone know of the next two fights, Ken and Ren, and Akihiko and Nora. After sitting down next to the blonde, she waited patiently as Yang cooled off and processed the fight. For that, she was grateful.
"I got cocky," she responded without hesitation. She had realized it soon after she sat down to think about the fight. Everything started going wrong from the very beginning, when Mitsuru summoned Artemisia. Something she had given the older teen a chance to do.
Mitsuru, however, seemed to have other ideas. "Being overconfident does not necessarily lead to defeat, Yang," she said with a shake of her head. "If it did, then you would have lost many more fights in the past. It did play a part, but it was not the main reason for your defeat." When Yang remained silent, unable or, perhaps, unwilling to answer, the redhead spoke once more. "Tell me, what strategy were you planning to employ for our fight?"
"Strategy?" Yang cocked her head to the side as though unable to comprehend the word. "Well… nothing really. I was just gonna play things by ear like I always do."
The red-haired team leader sighed in response. "I suspected as much."
"Does it matter?" Yang asked with a shrug. "I'm not that good at planning ahead and all that. And that's what the team's got you for, right? And I know Blake and Yukari are pretty good at it too. I don't think I'd be able to match anything you three came up with."
Mitsuru shook her head in exasperation. "That's not the point I'm trying to make Yang. Tell me, do you know the difference between strategy and tactics?"
The blonde cocked her head to the side with a thoughtful yet confused look on her face. "Aren't they just the same thing?"
"Strategy," Mitsuru began patiently, "Is the overall plan you develop to reach a certain goal. Tactics, on the other hand, are the means by which you achieve each objective in order to make your strategy a success. Let's use our fight just now as an example. What strategy do you think I employed?"
Yang ran through the fight in her head, trying, but failing, to put herself in Mitsuru's shoes. In many ways, they were just too different as people for her to be able to see things from the redhead's perspective. Still, she tried. "You uh… took advantage of my cockiness and the fact that there were two of you fighting against me."
"Those are tactics." Mitsuru's voice was calm and patient, even though Yang felt a bit embarrassed at not having even come close to a right answer.
It helped that neither of them were looking at the other anymore. Their eyes were watching the fight between their respective partners, Yukari keeping Blake at a distance with Isis while shooting arrows with great accuracy. Unfortunately for her, Blake was dodging her attacks with ease, using her clones to help her avoid the cyclones, both large and small, that Isis formed in rapid succession.
Mitsuru couldn't help but smile at the sight. Back when SEES ascended Tartarus to confront Nyx, none of them were strong enough to be able to utilize their Personas' attacks in rapid succession over a long period of time. Even when using their Personas sparingly, several minutes of combat would begin to tire them out. By the time the Dark Hour ended, they were close to their limits, if not already there. And that was considering they weren't actively fighting every minute of that accursed hour.
But now, after months of brutal and grueling training, they could probably fire a continuous barrage of their strongest attacks for a few minutes before they even began to tire. A vast improvement from before.
Truly they had come a long way. And looking towards the future, Mitsuru knew they would need every last scrap of strength they could muster up from the depths of their souls.
"The strategy I employed," she began to explain, "Had three steps which I would need to accomplish in order to achieve my goal, which was victory. The first was to ensure that I controlled the flow of battle. The fact that you gave me a chance to summon Artemisia, instead of rushing me to prevent it, greatly helped me in accomplishing this goal."
Though her eyes were watching her partner, Yang's face scrunched up in confusion. "But wasn't the point of all this so we could experience fighting your Personas? Wouldn't it go against that if we didn't give you the chance to even summon your Personas?"
Mitsuru shook her head, and Yang could see her disappointment out of the corner of her eyes. "If you believe we need such a handicap, then it shows that you still think lowly of us, that you do not believe us strong enough to handle ourselves."
Yang was quick to respond, pulling her eyes away from the fight to face her leader. "Wait, that's not-"
"Our Evokers," Mitsuru interrupted calmly but sharply, "Are our biggest weak point. Our lack of Aura can be temporarily overcome with Rakukaja but only Junpei's and Aigis's Personas are capable of that ability. The moment we lose our Evokers is almost certainly the moment we lose. And that is a fact that we are aware of. Painfully so. Another point is that our Evokers are necessary to summon our Personas. If we cannot find the opportunity to use it, then the fight may very well end in our loss once again."
"And when you have such obvious and glaring weaknesses, the very first thing you need to do is to find a way to either outright eliminate them or offset them."
"What did you do?" asked Yang, unable to see any way by which SEES could eliminate or offset the need for an Evoker.
"Simple. We trained."
"Huh?"
Mitsuru's patient tone never wavered, though the discussion made Yang feel that her less considerable intellect was a bother to the redhead, who had to explain so many things to her. "We learned how to split our focus during a fight, to summon and command our Personas even in the midst of combat. There was once a time when we needed to stay almost completely still to command them, unable to even properly move around the battlefield lest we lose focus."
"During those times, we summoned our Persona only when needed. Whenever we needed to maneuver, our Personas would disappear. Fighting head-on while having our Personas constantly summoned and also attacking was a near impossibility at that time. Only Aigis was capable of it for obvious reasons." Yang winced at that image. Anyone standing still in a fight against Grimm was just asking to get picked off. Even more so against an intelligent opponent.
"We also trained in specific scenarios, such as having an opponent between us and our Evoker with only our weapons in our hands. Sometimes we would even use that scenario while unarmed. Necessity, as they say, is the mother of invention. In this case, we invented ways by which we could fight or survive should we find ourselves without our Evokers."
"… You guys really take this seriously, huh?" Yang looked away and down, leaning forward with her forearms on her thighs and her gaze on the floor between her feet. "Sorry. I guess what I did was pretty thoughtless now that I think about it."
A hand was gently placed on her shoulder, though she didn't turn to its owner. "Just as I said back at the start of the month, I appreciate your concern. We all do. But perhaps you should learn from Jaune's circumstances." Now she turned to face Mitsuru. "I am not privy to all the details, but from the way I understand it, Jaune's family was worried about his lack of natural talent in combat and, as such, they sought to shelter him from the dangers of being a Huntsman."
"All the while, however, Jaune wished for nothing more than to become a Huntsman. His determination led him to come to Beacon despite knowing of his own weaknesses. Had it not been for a series of fortunate events, he very well might have died during the initiation."
Now that was a sobering thought. Like most of them, Yang only knew parts of the story, as well as what little she could work out from what she heard from Jaune's family. But she knew enough to know that Jaune had gone into the initiation without his Aura. Had Pyrrha not noticed and activated it for him, then, as Mitsuru had said, Jaune might have been one of the very few lives that were sometimes lost during the initiation.
More importantly, she could see how Jaune's story relates to SEES. Whereas SEES, with their inherent reliance on the Evokers, could be likened to Jaune, Yang and her overabundance of concern could be likened to Jaune's family. She had tried to take it easy on them. Too easy in fact. Because she did not want to challenge them by making it difficult for them to summon their Personas, she essentially prevented them from growing, from gaining the skills they needed.
Or at least, that's how it would have gone had they not already learned to compensate for their various weaknesses.
Still, she could now better understand Mitsuru's point. They had trained with one another, as well as their mysterious, but brutal, trainer. But they would need all the training they could get by facing off against as many different people and as many different scenarios as they could. It was the only way they could offset their lack of Aura and their less than ideal physical capabilities.
Satisfied that her blonde teammate understood, Mitsuru returned to their original topic. "The second part of my strategy, after gaining control of the flow of battle, was to keep you off balance, whether literally or figuratively. And the tactic I utilized to accomplish this, as I'm sure you recall, is by repeatedly switching between attacking you myself and having Artemisia attack you. Whenever you regained enough focus to target the immediate threat, the other would move in and take advantage of your distraction."
"Yeah, I noticed that part." Yang nodded as she recalled that particular tactic. It was certainly effective as she never had three seconds when she knew just who the greater threat was. "Was that also why you let yourself get hit?"
Unsurprisingly, Mitsuru responded in the affirmative. "That's right. Since you were already holding back, I knew you would be concerned if you thought you had hurt me. The fact that you had been blinded along with your wild punches made it easier for me. You probably didn't realize at the time, but you still held back your power. The punch hurt, but I've been hit by worse."
She hadn't realized that. But it relieved her to know that he hadn't struck Mitsuru with too much of her power by mistake. Still… "That's a bit of a low blow though. I mean, I was really worried, you know?"
"True, but you have to remember that there are no rules in a real fight." Mitsuru's face bore a small smile, which contrasted greatly with her words. "The only rules that exist, are those we impose upon ourselves, such as whether to continue attacking those who have been disarmed, or those who have surrendered. Others have no such rules, and will do anything and everything to achieve victory. But regardless of which end of the spectrum you belong to, remember that not everyone shares your view. Just as I took advantage of your concern, someone else may do the same. Only then, it may not just be a simple training match."
It was not that Yang disagreed. It was only that she hadn't realized how it felt to be on the other end of such a tactic. More than once, she had played the part of a blushing schoolgirl to distract her opponents, to get them to lower their guard. Later, it would turn to flirting, distracting them with her budding womanly charms. Not too long ago, she had pulled a similar trick on a club owner/information broker down in Vale.
And until now, nobody had ever pulled a trick like that on her. She'd probably be pissed if her opponent pulled a trick like that. But she hadn't realized how close it felt to betrayal when someone she was genuinely concerned about, rather than a stranger, used her worries against her. It was only the fact that Mitsuru did not do it with the intent to betray her that she did not consider it an actual betrayal. It still hurt to be taken advantage of in that way though.
"The third part of my strategy…" Oh right, she almost forgot that they were originally talking about Mitsuru's combat strategy. "Was simply a blitzkrieg. To take down your Aura as fast as I could to minimize the chance that you would regain enough focus to fight properly. Though I admit, I hadn't expected you to have a Semblance that increased your strength in proportion to how much damage your Aura has taken. Had you been able to use it from the start then I would not have been able to defeat you."
"Maybe, but- wait…" Something about what Mitsuru said tickled the back of her brain. A part of her had clearly noticed it, but her conscious mind had yet to figure it out. Slowly, she ran through the redhead's words. It was when she repeated it for the second time that she realized just what it was that caught her subconscious mind's attention. "You… You know what my Semblance is?" she asked, eyes wide in surprise.
Strangely enough, Mitsuru looked apologetic. "Only after seeing it, but yes, I do have some idea. As far as I can tell, it has something to do with strength enhancement in relation to the damage you've received."
"H-How did you…" It was impossible. No one should have been able to figure out her Semblance so easily. It was one thing to deduce that it increased her strength, but that the blows she received had a connection to it? Nobody could have figured that out on their own. So how? How did Mitsuru figure it out?
Mitsuru's response was accompanied by a grim smile. "That is one of the secrets I plan to reveal at the end of this training session. One that I know not everyone will like hearing. Rest assured, however, that only two of us amongst SEES know of your Semblance. And neither one of us have any intention of telling anyone else."
It did assure her, somewhat, but it did make her wonder what the secret was and what it had to do with Mitsuru finding out about her Semblance. In addition… "Who's the other person who knows?"
When Mitsuru's eyes turned away from the start of the fight between Ken and Ren, Yang followed the direction on her gaze. Lilac eyes landed on the massive form encasing her sister's diminutive teammate. "Fuuka."
The fight between Yukari and Blake hadn't been terribly exciting. Nor was Ken and Ren's own bout. Then again, when compared to Mitsuru's one-sided victory over Yang, who was arguably the strongest and most capable of the eight Aura-users next to Pyrrha, few fights could be as exciting.
The fourth match, Akihiko against Nora, came close. Especially when Nora's Semblance was revealed when Akihiko struck her with Zionga, Caesar's second-tier lightning attack. Some were fascinated by her ability to strengthen her muscles by channeling electricity, others were horrified by the idea of the already destructive girl being able to become more destructive, not to mention more energetic. Though Yang briefly wondered which of them had a higher upper limit in terms of strength.
Akihiko had run around almost frantically, trying to figure out a way to win despite his massive disadvantage. Even having Caesar attack directly failed since Nora was agile enough to avoid his attacks and forcefully dismiss the Persona with a single attack.
He had contemplated using Caesar's other abilities, but those had yet to be tested against an Aura-user. As much as he wanted to win, or at least put up a good showing, it wasn't worth being Executed. And so, after exhausting his options, he conceded the match rather than take a hit from a powered-up Nora. Something that would have most likely broken every bone in his body. And every organ to boot.
The fifth match was Jaune against Chidori. It was less exciting but also not as boring. Instead, it turned out to be quite entertaining in some ways. Chidori bombarded the blonde with continuous Agidynes, the continuous explosions causing the very air in the room to vibrate and sometimes even making it seem as though the room itself was shaking. All the while, the poor blonde could only run around the training area, trying to avoid being blown up.
His idea of masking his approach with his panic and seemingly random movements was decent, if not for the fact that Chidori had seen through his ploy. It wouldn't have been the first time someone tried to approach her in that manner. She circled around the training area in the opposite direction to keep them on opposite sides. And whenever he tried to approach, she would blow up the area in front of him to discourage it.
The fight ended, unsurprisingly, in Chidori's victory, setting the unofficial score of two to three in favor of the Aura-users.
With her teammates done with their match Pyrrha rose from the bench and made her way to the training area, only to be stopped by Mitsuru's words. "The next match will be Junpei versus Ruby."
"What?!" came the voices of several people, the sudden change in an already established pattern catching them by surprise.
Mitsuru's raised had forestalled any questions before they could even give voice to them. "Everything will be made clear after the fight." While her tone was as calm as ever, they could detect that strange undertone that told them that things were non-negotiable.
Junpei and Pyrrha exchanged glances for a brief moment, before Junpei shrugged. For some strange reason, he removed his Gekkoukan blazer and the dress shirt underneath, leaving him clad in his pants and a black sleeveless shirt, earning a few choice words from Yukari. He just grinned and shrugged before walking into the training area, Ruby following him soon after and leaving behind all but two of the spectators confused by Mitsuru's sudden change in the line-up.
Ruby's first act was to deploy Crescent Rose, the massive scythe opening to its full size in just two seconds. Opposite her, Junpei drew his katana and held it in his right hand, his Evoker rising to his temple and firing. Trismegistus appeared above him, and he returned his Evoker to its holster.
Much like the others, he already knew it would be better to keep Trismegistus summoned for the entire fight. He, Yukari, Ken, and Akihiko needed both hands to fight, unlike Mitsuru and Chidori, who could fight with one hand while the other held the Evoker at the ready. Aigis had a built-in Evoker that she had yet to reveal, and Fuuka's primary task was support so she would almost always have her Evoker on hand.
As such, the quartet had to suffer the additional difficulty of keeping their Personas summoned for prolonged periods should it become necessary. The brief moment it took them to draw their Evoker was enough time for someone to close in or attack from afar. Junpei and Ken, most of all, since they needed remove one hand from their weapon, unlike Yukari and Akihiko.
He could fight the usual way SEES did against the Shadows, maintaining his distance when he needed to summon, but given Ruby's Semblance that was going to be difficult, if not outright impossible. So better to keep Trismegistus summoned rather than put himself on the back foot from the start.
A blue light shone around him briefly, the sign that meant his body was now coated in the Aura-like defenses of Rakukaja. Fuuka would keep him appraised of its status and let him know if it was about to expire. He would need that reminder seeing as his chosen strategy, one that was hastily formed after the unexpected switch in opponents, revolved around his Persona's ability to defend him.
Ruby dashed forward as soon as she saw that light, knowing now that it was safe to attack. Junpei dodged back as the massive black and red crescent blade cut right through where he had been standing just a split second ago. In response, Trismegistus shot forward, throwing a right hook and swinging its feather blades. But the blades only cut through a flurry of crimson petals as the red reaper disappeared in a burst of Semblance-powered speed.
Tracking her by the trail of petals she left behind, Junpei rolled aside just as she approached from his right. The he raised his sword in defense as he scrambled back, straining to keep up with Ruby's impressive skills as she spun both her body and the weapon, clashing repeatedly with his katana.
Then he jumped back just as the air in front of Ruby exploded into massive fireball. Then several more explosions occurred as Trismegistus tracked Ruby by the trail of petals. Junpei wasn't idle in the meantime. He had circled around the training area, keeping an eye on Ruby as she moved around to avoid being blasted by the winged Persona.
After a few more explosions went off, Junpei leapt forward and swung his blade at the oncoming cyclone of rose petals. His limbs nearly buckled from the impact even as Ruby appeared, the shaft of her scythe blocking the katana. But Junpei just grinned. And that grin was the last thing Ruby saw before her world erupted in flames.
"RUBY!"
Despite knowing that her Aura would protect her, Yang couldn't help the instinct to worry as she saw her sister and her opponent become consumed by a large explosion. Worried lilac eyes watched as a black and red ball that she identified as Ruby flew out of the explosion, rolling briefly on the ground before hopping up onto her feet with her scythe still in her grip. Junpei followed not even a second later. Only he was still on his feet and he was running straight at the scythe-wielder.
It was now clear why he had taken off his jacket and shirt earlier. The edges of his tank top were burnt, and the skin along his arms were red from being exposed to the high heat. Undeterred, he raced after Ruby, double-teaming her with Trismegistus, who continued to blast Ruby with Agidyne, even when Junpei was within range of the explosion as well.
"Woah! Is he serious?" exclaimed Jaune, taking a half-step back at his leader's daring – or perhaps reckless – actions. "That's insane."
A little known fact that they had learned over the past few training sessions was that Rakukaja, despite the similarities, was NOT like Aura. Aura prevented any and all damage with the sole exception of concussive force. Even then, the amount of power it would normally take to break a bone in half would just barely bruise someone with Aura. The pain was, of course, another matter entirely.
SEES's Rakukaja, however, only minimized the damage. Junpei had once scared Pyrrha with that knowledge during their first sparring match, using it against her to catch her off-guard. He still failed to land a hit, but she couldn't deny the effectiveness of his tactic.
She and Jaune were the first to learn of that little detail, but everyone else learned about it soon after. Rakukaja was temporary, unlike Aura. Rakukaja did not completely protect against damage, unlike Aura. But unlike Aura, Rakukaja could not be worn down. Even if they received thousands of blows within a short timeframe, their protection would remain in place. Although, even the small bits of damage they received from those thousands of blows just might be enough to kill them either way.
Still, that meant that, in a way, those of SEES could sometimes be just as reckless as those with Aura. Now for instance.
Yukari let out a sound of disgust at the sight before her. "That Junpei's getting carried away again."
"You weren't that much better though," Akihiko threw back with a teasing grin. "I almost thought you were trying to make an actual tornado earlier."
Yukari had the decency to blush at being caught even as a few others snickered at her expense. Even Mitsuru allowed a quiet chuckle to escape her lips. "It's to be expected though," she said to her friend and teammate. "This is the first time we are using our Personas against someone other than another Persona-user. I'm sure everyone can be forgiven for wanting to showcase their abilities."
"Besides," she continued with less amusement in her tone. "If we are to work together as a team, we will need to know what each one of us is capable of. As such, Junpei has the right idea by showing the limits of his abilities. Both his Persona's and his own."
Her eyes were locked onto Junpei as he stepped inside Ruby's attack zone, one hand grabbing her wrist and preventing her from moving away. A split-second later, both were engulfed in a powerful explosion courtesy of Trismegistus. "Of course, I'll have a talk with him to make sure he doesn't do something this reckless outside of training."
The fight ended not long after with Ruby emerging the victor. She had pinned down Junpei with the barrel of Crescent Rose's rifle form pressing up against his chest. Prior to that, she had taken Trismegistus out with several swings of her scythe, leaving Junpei her sole opponent. Without his Persona to come to his rescue, and Ruby unlikely to give him the chance to summon, Junpei conceded.
"Are you alright Junpei?" Pyrrha asked as soon as he stepped out of the training area, her eyes wide at the sight of his reddened skin. It was only because of Rakukaja that he wasn't seriously burned by his own attacks. Rather, he only looked as though he had a severe case of sunburn.
He just shrugged, wincing a bit as the movement irritated his skin. "Meh, I've had worse." Any member of SEES could attest to that.
Still, that didn't make his teammate worry less. Had it not been for his condition, she would have grabbed him and brought him over to someone who could help him. In fact… "Didn't you say that some of your Personas could heal?" she asked, turning specifically to Yukari, whom she had heard it from. "Could they heal Junpei?"
Yukari nodded. "I did, yeah. But honestly, Junpei's the last person here who needs it."
Her words honestly shocked Pyrrha, as well as half the room's occupants. They knew that Yukari and Junpei often argued about even the smallest things, but from what they had seen there was no ill-intent involved. Perhaps sometime in the past, yes, but even the first argument they witnessed clearly showed that it was simply how their friendship worked. So why would she say something like that?
Mitsuru, seeing their stunned reactions, decided to explain further, seeing as Yukari's words did not have the intended effect. "What she means to say is that Junpei is capable of healing himself. Or rather, Trismegistus is special in that it grants Junpei an increased rate of healing." Their stunned expressions remained, but for an altogether different reason. "Given his injuries, I suspect he'll be fully recovered within the hour."
The stunned faces turned as one to face the person in question, who was smiling sheepishly and scratching his cheek, wincing when the brief contact caused a bit of pain due to his sunburnt skin. "Did I uh… forget to mention that?" By the looks he was receiving, the answer was a resounding yes.
Soon enough, all attention turned back to Mitsuru. And it was clear that all of them wanted to know why she had changed the obvious match-up of Junpei versus Pyrrha. Of course, given the only Persona-user who has yet to fight, it hadn't taken the Mistralian long to figure out. "I presume that you wish for me to fight Aigis?"
"Precisely." Mitsuru's response was accompanied by understanding nods and sounds from everyone else. "Of course, since we've seen that you and Aigis are nearly equal in terms of skill, allowing her to use her Persona would tip the scales in her favor."
Pyrrha had to restrain herself from mentioning her Semblance. If Aigis had not told them yet, then she would prefer to keep the number of people who knew to a minimum. She wouldn't mind telling everyone currently present in the training room, but having it as a trump card never hurt anyone.
At least, for the foreseeable future. If she was fighting Aigis at her best, then there may be a chance that she would need to reveal it within the next few minutes.
"As such, you will be partnered with Weiss for this battle."
Had anyone been looking at the white-haired heiress in the back, they would have seen the sheer look of glee on her face. Of course, the look disappeared barely a second after it appeared. Appearances must be kept after all.
"But senpai," cut in Fuuka her concerned expression visible through Juno's translucent lower body. "All things considered, wouldn't Aigis be the one at a disadvantage instead?"
"Yeah," agreed Yukari. "Aigis is good but like you said, she and Pyrrha are pretty much equal. And even if she kept Athena summoned the entire time, I think that Pyrrha and Weiss have the advantage here."
For the second time, in just as many minutes, Weiss had to school her features before anyone could notice. It was one thing for Yukari, whom she had long since realized held a fairly low opinion of her, to show concern like she did last Sunday. It was another to hear her state, in a roundabout way, that Weiss was more than a match for the Persona called Athena.
In response to Yukari and Fuuka's concerns, Mitsuru just smiled in the way that implied that she was aware of some great secret that the rest of them weren't privy to. Moreover, it was clear that she derived some measure of glee at their ignorance.
"We've been having these weekly group training sessions for nearly two months now," she began, making the others wonder just where she was going with it. "Asides from one-on-one matches, we've also worked together as pairs or as a full team, sometimes with those not part of our team. Two weeks ago, however, someone made a request due to their discontent with how we have been doing things. Today, I plan to grant them their request by allowing them to fight alongside Aigis."
Fourteen people looked to one another, trying to figure out who it was that Mitsuru could have been speaking of, made that much harder by her avoidance of any gender-specific pronouns. Meanwhile, Akihiko met Mitsuru's gaze with a knowing smile and discreetly slipped away from the group.
Failing to discover Aigis's partner, as nobody admitted to being the one to make the request, everyone's attention returned to Mitsuru, none the wiser to the fact that there was one less person standing amongst them.
"So who is to be my partner for this fight, Mitsuru-san?" Aigis asked, just as curious as everyone else.
Again, Mitsuru just gave that same knowing smile but said nothing in response. Instead, the answer came from behind the group.
"Woof!"
"HIYAAAAHH!"
If the bark hadn't already caught them by surprise, then the scream that followed certainly did. Even Mitsuru looked taken aback by the near violent reaction as Blake shoved Yang, Ken, and Jaune out of way as she scrambled back frantically. In her haste, she tripped and fell to the ground, her training forgotten. But that did little to stop her, as she crab-walked away.
"B-Blake!"
Yang quickly chased after her partner, sparing Koromaru a glance to make sure he wouldn't try following. Yukari and a few others tried to follow but a raised arm stopped them before they could take two steps. Mitsuru didn't want to make things worse by pressuring Blake or crowding her. Though they were concerned, too many people didn't necessarily mean they could offer more help.
There was a soft whine from behind them, followed by Akihiko's voice. "Hey, don't worry. I should have remembered that she isn't too fond of dogs. It's not your fault." Another whine followed his words.
"He says he is sad because he wants to play with her," translated Aigis, still facing the side of the room where Yang, Mitsuru, and Yukari were attempting to calm down Blake. "She is the only one who does not play with him."
Another whine was accompanied by a soft, almost bitter, chuckle. "That's just how it is sometimes," Akihiko said, kneeling down next to Koromaru and placing a hand on top of the shiba inu's head and giving it a gentle rub. "Something probably happened when she was younger, something bad enough that made her afraid of dogs. Maybe it was even a wolf or something, for all we know."
And yet another whine came out. Akihiko didn't need a translator to understand Koromaru's message. "We'll see if we can help her, but you'll probably have to keep your distance from her like you've been doing this whole time. At least until she's alright with being near you. Okay boy?" Koromaru almost seemed to nod, but he didn't look very happy still.
They waited in terse silence as Yang quietly spoke with Blake, the black-haired girl visibly calming down. Eventually, she convinced her to return to the group. Though Mitsuru noted that her teammate was glancing furtively in Koromaru's direction with a hint of fear in her eyes, as though afraid he would attack her the moment she got too close. Her right hand nervously gripped left arm just above the elbow.
"Blake." Mitsuru spoke softly, though that didn't stop the pale girl from jumping a bit as though she had been bitten. "Are you alright?"
"I… I-I'm sorry." Her response was quiet, barely audible even in the silence. "I just… I…" Blake bowed her head, her voice trailing away.
Mitsuru sighed inside her head, knowing that there was little that could be done at this point. "There's no need to say anything if you're uncomfortable. As long as you are alright, then that's all that matters at the moment." Her teammate glanced up nervously, meeting Mitsuru's crimson eyes with her amber ones. "You don't need to force yourself to speak if it makes you uncomfortable. Whenever you're ready, we'll be here."
"Mitsuru, I…" Blake's eyes searched Mitsuru's, but failed to find anything beyond concern, patience, and sincerity. "Thanks."
Looking around, she found that everyone else had the same concern in their eyes. And though her face was just as stoic as it normally was, Weiss's eyes, surprisingly, showed some level of concern as well. Nora looked like she wanted to say something, but Ren's hand on her shoulder was enough of a deterrent for the hyperactive girl.
Her eyes sought the ground again, bowing her head as though ashamed of making everyone worry. She clenched her hands shut, a brief rush of anger aimed at herself coursing through her veins. Why was she so afraid of Koromaru? Nearly two months have passed since she received her first scare from him but she had yet to understand why.
She didn't like dogs, that much was a fact she was well aware of. They made her nervous just as much as any canine faunus would. Fear, however, was not something she could ever say she felt when it came to them. Not unless they attacked her for some reason, or were wild and rabid. Even then, she had never been so afraid to the point that she had panicked and lost all her senses, save for the sheer instinct to get away.
She might not like Koromaru very much, if at all, but she could at least acknowledge Yang's point that he had never hurt anyone. In fact, she had never so much as heard him growl. Not that she spent a lot of time near him. Her blonde partner even pointed out how well-behaved he was, never disobeying the rules that were set even when he clearly disagreed with them.
That line of thought brought up the other problem she had. She glanced to her right with her eyes, keeping her head down to hide her gaze from the others.
She still didn't know how to feel about Yang knowing her secret. She had kept it to herself the past three days, just as she said she would, but that only reassured her for the moment. Yang was boisterous, and prone to fits of anger when even the smallest spark was lit under her. One such fit may lead to her saying something she did not mean. Such as revealing the fact that her partner was a faunus.
It was not that she didn't trust Yang. She did, to an extent at least. But she did not like taking such a risk. Not when such an important secret was on the line.
A hand being placed on her shoulder shocked her out of her introspection. Looking up with a gasp and a barely restrained flinch, amber eyes met red once more. "Take your time Blake. As I said, we'll be here whenever you're ready."
This time, Blake could only nod dumbly, overwhelmed by the various emotions running through her. The apprehension she felt around Koromaru, the flare of anger at her lack of control, gratitude for their understanding, and so much more.
"Do you want to stay?" Mitsuru asked her. "As I said, Aigis will be partnered with Koromaru for the next fight. He'll certainly be doing more than just barking in that case."
Did she want to stay? On one hand, just a single bark from Koromaru was enough to scare her wits all the way to the next continent. Never mind how much he'll be barking, possibly growling, during the fight. On the other hand, will seeing him fight perhaps help her figure out why she felt this way around him? She had no explanation as to why, but her instincts told her that watching the fight would answer some questions.
"I-I'll stay," she said, still unable to repress the stutter that escaped her lips. "I… I can't just avoid him forever."
Dark red eyes gazed into hers for just a while longer, as though trying to determine why she gave such a response. Whatever she found, Mitsuru smiled faintly and nodded. For some reason, Blake felt like she had just passed some sort of test.
"Very well. But if you start to feel too uncomfortable, let us know, alright?" Blake didn't hesitate to nod.
Now that the more pressing matter had been dealt with, Yang decided that that was the perfect time to give voice to the question that was undoubtedly on everyone's mind. "Is he really going to fight though?" There were murmurs of agreement from the rest of the Aura-users. "I mean, no offense but what can he do to even out the fight?"
Yet again, Mitsuru gave that infuriating smile. Only this time, the rest of SEES joined her. "Do you remember when you first met him?" she asked, instead of giving an answer. "Specifically, do you remember what I said about Koromaru?"
Everyone thought back to that day. The day itself was unforgettable. It was the day of the initiation and the day they learned about Persona, in more ways than one. Meeting Koromaru was just as memorable, for less than positive reasons. While it had been interesting to learn that Aigis could understand him, that was also when they first learned that Blake was uncomfortable around dogs, if not outright afraid.
Obviously, that wasn't what Mitsuru was referring to. She had said something about him prior to actually meeting him. A few of them could remember hearing his name being mentioned prior to meeting him. Only one remembered a particular detail that was most likely what they were asked to remember.
"He's a member of SEES." The aforementioned group turned to Pyrrha with their grins, while the Aura-users sent her inquisitive looks. The redhead motioned with her hand to the red armband on Koromaru's left foreleg. "Specifically, you said that he was the final member of SEES, and that he was unable to join as a student for certain reasons."
Several pairs of eyes widened in remembrance as Pyrrha's words brought the memory to mind. Mitsuru did say that. "In fact," continued the Mistralian, "You also said that he was capable of fighting. I remember considering the possibility that he was injured prior to the initiation, or perhaps even an invalid in some way, which made him unable to join. As such I was surprised to see that I was greatly mistaken in every regard."
Koromaru whined softly, Blake's breath hitching in her throat at the reminder of his presence. Clearly he didn't like being thought of as an invalid, even if it was supposition on Pyrrha's part.
Some, however, were still quite doubtful. "But can he really fight that well?" Pyrrha shared Ruby's sentiments, mainly because she would be one of two people fighting the albino dog. "I mean, he's about to get into a fight between three Huntresses-in-training." No matter how she looked at the situation, Ruby just couldn't imagine Koromaru, a dog smaller than an average-sized wolf and friendlier than most dogs she had seen, fighting them. Never mind fighting against the Grimm.
"I suppose we'll see." That response almost made it sound like this was a trial by fire for the poor dog. The only reason Pyrrha didn't voice her own complaints was because all of SEES looked confident. "One last thing. Aigis." The blonde turned to Mitsuru upon being addressed. "As we have privacy today, I want you to give your all in this fight."
She then pointed at something behind the group. Turning around, they saw a crate beside one of the benches. The same crate that some of them had seen Aigis bring in when they first arrived in the training room. The same crate that Ruby and Weiss recognized as one that held ammunition for Aigis.
"We won't be able to get away with requesting privacy for every training session. I'm certain we would cause some members of the staff to wonder what we're up to if we always chose to hide away like this, so I want us to take advantage of the times that we can request privacy to see how you fare while fighting at your best."
Well, that was not entirely true, of course. The staff would most likely grant them the privacy even if it was requested for every training session they had. Mitsuru just didn't want to draw attention to them by holding only private sessions from this point on. The excuse of not wanting their Semblance to be seen would only make people more curious the more they attempted to keep it hidden.
Already, there were talks in the hallways that, despite their lack of Aura, the eight Aura-less students had some sort of Semblance. Some rumors even made it out as though their Semblances were so powerful that they didn't need Aura.
They wouldn't ask. Well, most people wouldn't, but their curiosity would be present. And the more curious they were, the more likely people would start talking to come up with ideas as to what the secret Semblance might be. Pyrrha's unknown Semblance was one such example as people have been speculating it for years now.
Perhaps it could be considered paranoia on her part, but she also wanted to minimize the attention their group received as a whole. SEES was already keeping many secrets, even from their own teammates and friends. The less people who tried looking into them, the better. The moment one secret gets out is the moment people start wondering what other things were being kept hidden. And with that thought in mind, there would undoubtedly be those wanting to actively uncover such secrets rather than merely speculating.
It was unlikely that such truth-seekers would figure out the truth. Even now, Mitsuru sometimes expected to one day wake up back in the dormitory in Iwatodai. Their situation was just that unbelievable even now. One would have to be both creative and, on some level, strange in their way of thinking in order to even come close to figuring out SEES's true history.
"We can talk more later. For now, Aigis, please get ready. Akihiko, I'll leave Koromaru to you. Pyrrha, Weiss, I'll need to speak with the both of you."
The first two mentioned gave nods and walked away, the latter followed closely by Koromaru. The latter two turned to follow Mitsuru as she walked to one side of the room for a little privacy. And that left the others to question the remaining members of SEES, who remained tightlipped regarding Koromaru.
Once they were far enough from the others, Mitsuru turned to face Pyrrha and Weiss, the two people she chose to challenge the duo of Aigis and Koromaru. "I'm sure you've some idea of what I wanted to speak to the two of you about," she said without delay.
Pyrrha was the first to respond with a nod. "The fight. I assume you wish for us to hold back a little?"
To their surprise, Mitsuru shook her head, her expression completely serious. "Quite the opposite in fact. I need you both to fight at your best, just as I asked of Aigis."
Weiss didn't like Aigis. No, that was inaccurate. She didn't like having Aigis as her leader. Nor did she like the fact that everyone treated her like a human being. Even so, she could say that she respected the blonde's skills. Perhaps even admired it.
And despite her dislike of the situation, she did not necessarily want any harm to come to Aigis. She just did not want to be led by an artificial being. Moreover, SEES would certainly be upset if anything were to happen to Aigis, just as they would should anything befall any of the other members.
As such, Weiss was confused by what Mitsuru had just asked of them. She wanted them to not hold back? To give their all in a fight against an android who was Pyrrha's equal skill-wise, said android's Persona, and a dog who was supposed to help even out the playing field?
Few were the times when Weiss could say that she did not understand something even the slightest bit. Mitsuru's request was just added to that very short list.
"Are you… sure?" Weiss had to stop herself from saying something less kind. She hoped neither redhead noticed the brief pause. If they did, then she could only pray that they did not suspect the reason behind it. "Pyrrha and Aigis are equals in skill, and both Fuuka and Yukari seem quite certain I can handle the Persona. While you believe Koromaru could help bridge that gap, I have to say that I am doubtful as to how helpful he could be."
Not to mention she had quite a few glyphs that she had yet to reveal since her arrival at Beacon. The Schnee family Semblance was quite versatile, capable of a vast array of varying abilities. She also had various types of Dust in her arsenal. Not only was she quite adept at using them, but they could also be combined with her Semblance for even further variations to aid in the fight.
It was something she kept up her sleeve for just the right moment, using only a handful of different glyphs both in class and in training. And when she found the time, she practiced the rest in secret. No doubt she would need the additional edge when her peers grew stronger as well.
There was also Pyrrha's as of yet unknown Semblance to consider. With her prodigious skill in combat, it was unsurprising that the Mistralian champion did not need to use her Semblance as often as others did. As far as Weiss was aware, the redhead hadn't even used it once while attending Beacon. Further proof of her skills. What more if she chose to use it now?
And Mitsuru wanted them to not hold back against their opponents? Opponents who, from the look of things, were already at a disadvantage on several fronts. Why?
"You both recall Aigis's match with Pyrrha." It was a statement of a fact and not a question. It would be difficult to forget the match that ended in a draw after running for thirty minutes. "What if I told you that, Persona aside, Aigis was still holding back during that match?"
Holding… back? If she were being honest, a part of Weiss would admit to having considered that possibility. After all, an android made to hunt down Grimm had to be powerful, right? There was no way that her limits were only on par with a student. An exceptional student, but a student nonetheless.
But then that begged the question. Just how much was she holding back?
Weiss turned to Pyrrha to get an idea of what her current fighting partner was thinking of. What she saw, however, made her blink in surprise. It was subtle and barely there, but unless she was mistaken then Pyrrha looked to be… excited. But that couldn't be. Right?
Some members of SEES aside, Pyrrha was undoubtedly the only one among their little clique – among their entire year in fact – whom Weiss felt was worth befriending. She was more mature than the rest. More skilled, more disciplined, and a whole host of other things that set her apart from the rest.
There was simply no way that Pyrrha Nikos, of all people, was the sort to become excited by the prospect of a fight.
Weiss had to be seeing things.
She just had to be.
"There are four things that have been holding her back this entire time," Mitsuru continued to explain. "Her inability to use her Persona in a fight, her weapons, her clothing, and her body. Today, Aigis will be fighting without three of those."
"Just three?" Though the redhead tried to hide it, Weiss still picked up on the disappointment in Pyrrha's tone. "Why not all four?"
"Removing the limiter on her body may cause damage that we would otherwise be unable to repair." That was understandable. As they had stated before, the scientists and technicians who usually worked on Aigis were no longer around. "But even with it, you'll find Aigis to be more than formidable. She does not fight like most humans do, and I doubt you've fought anyone like Koromaru before. In fact, this should be quite the learning experience for both of you."
That was an understatement if there ever was one. Aigis's movements were incredibly precise. People often described the experience of just barely managing to avoid something as 'dodging by a hair's breadth'. Most of the time, that only happened because they nearly failed to notice something coming towards them, or they reacted too late to avoid it by a wider margin.
But Aigis gave that phrase an entirely new meaning.
Her non-human mind allowed her to process information faster than any human or faunus could, and precise control over her body movements allowed her to literally dodge by a hair's breadth whenever she wanted to. And all the while, she could already be counterattacking with just as much agility and precision.
It was during those times, more than any other, that Weiss was reminded of the fact that Aigis was not human. No human could move so precisely. Even if they could, very few would risk the possibility of miscalculation. Especially one that may very well end in death. Better to have some leeway for mistakes than to end up injured or worse.
But Aigis was not human. She was a machine created for the sole purpose of combat. Such miscalculations would only occur because of unforeseen events or a mistake in her programming. That she had not yet made such a mistake spoke highly of her creators' abilities.
And now, she and Pyrrha would be fighting her just shy of her absolute best alongside an unknown in the form of Koromaru.
Mitsuru's eyes glanced at something behind them, and she smiled. "Looks like they're ready. Unless there's anything else, I propose we move on to the fight."
Both Weiss and Pyrrha nodded. There was no need to ask any more questions. All that was left, was to fight.
It hadn't really occurred to Weiss to fully consider what Mitsuru meant by some of the things holding back Aigis. Her Persona was obvious. Or rather, her inability to use her Persona in class. That alone held back a great deal of fighting potential.
Her clothing was also understandable. Aigis's old school uniform only hindered her a little bit, at least according to the blonde. Sometimes, that 'little bit' was more than enough of a hindrance, but Weiss didn't see just how Aigis's clothing could hold her back enough to be considered one of those five things.
But now, walking behind Aigis in all her mechanical glory as they entered through the opening in the hard-light walls of the training area, Weiss understood just what Mitsuru meant. It wasn't strictly the clothing that held her back. Rather, it was the boots that she normally wore alongside it.
Now that she had taken them off, Weiss was reminded of the fact that Aigis did not have feet in the way that humans or faunus did. Even in the safety of their dorm room, Aigis never remained completely undressed for more than a minute or two, if even that, since there were still some members of the school staff who were unaware of her secret that could enter their room without having to knock first.
Inversely, her boots were almost always absent while inside the room as people would rarely look down at someone's feet. It was just that Weiss did not pay it much heed because of how… normal of a sight it had become over the past two months.
With a fight about to begin, the tactical part of Weiss's mind immediately began taking every factor into consideration. From there, it was easy for her to come up with the theory that, because Aigis did not have normal feet, fighting in shoes meant for human-shaped feet affected her movements. Especially since part of the boot was stuffed with cloth. Just in case someone stepped on her 'foot' by accident, they said.
Though she wondered if it would really help hide the fact. Would Aigis be able to act the part of a human in pain? Not to mention what would happen if someone stepped on the 'foot' and Aigis didn't notice. People would doubtlessly question why she didn't feel it.
She couldn't be certain, but something was telling her that she was on the right track. Aigis would no doubt be swifter of foot, in a manner of speaking, without her boots.
On the other hand, her weapons being one of the things that held her back was… strange, to say the least. Aigis was highly proficient in the use of her trench knives. If not for the fact that she was an android, she would easily qualify as a prodigy in their use. Or in combat in general.
Yet, once again, seeing Aigis without her clothing gave her the answer.
It was easy to forget that the trench knives she used were not her main weapon. It was simply what she used to complete the façade of a human in front of their schoolmates and the members of the staff that were not aware. No. Her main weapon, if one did not consider Aigis herself to be a weapon, were her firearms.
It didn't matter whether it was the rifle attachment, the grenade launcher attachment, or just her fingers. Aigis's 'true' weapons were the handful of firearms she brought with her. In her default form, her fingers, with the exception of her thumb due to its inability to properly line up with her arm, served as gun barrels to the rapid-firing mechanisms inside her forearms.
Attached to the bottom of each of the steel bracers on her wrists were drum magazines, no doubt holding a fairly high number of bullets. There were additional magazines in a device that was attached to the outside of her thighs, four on each thigh for a total of eight. Weiss was fairly certain it would only take a second or two to eject any empty magazines and reattach a new one. A machine like Aigis would no doubt want to be as efficient as possible, especially in a combat situation.
Her high rate of fire and large supply of ammunition meant she was capable of both suppressive fire and mowing down large groups of enemies. And despite that, her accuracy most likely did not suffer on account of her being what she was, unlike other weapons with a similar rate of fire.
But apart from her Persona, her clothing, and her weapons, there was one other change in Aigis that Weiss noted. One that told her just how difficult the fight ahead would be.
Her eyes.
Those hard, crystal blue eyes were watching them carefully, narrowed slightly with her brows furrowed as though in deep thought. No doubt she was already formulating countless strategies and tactics based on previous fights as well as calculating which one had the better chances of succeeding. That cold expression on her face was one that Weiss had never seen before. And that alone told her that the upcoming fight would not be as easy as she might have expected earlier.
To Aigis, the humanoid weapon made to fight Grimm, both Weiss Schnee and Pyrrha Nikos were no longer her classmates. Right now, at that very moment, they were her targets.
In addition, there was still that one other problem staring them right in the face. Literally, staring at them.
"He's holding a knife in his mouth."
Pyrrha's observation was, while obvious, also on Weiss's mind. When Mitsuru said that Koromaru would be fighting, they had expected to fight a dog that would scratch them with his claws, or bite at them with his sharp teeth. Neither the Schnee heiress nor the Mistralian champion expected to see him carrying a knife in his mouth.
Then there was that strange collar around his neck. Weiss could remember seeing it the day before initiation as well as when they met Koromaru after the team formations, but she never paid much attention to it beyond the fact that it looked far different compared to other dog collars. But now, something was telling her to pay it more heed.
It was made completely of steel, which was rarely used for collars unless one was into slavery and such. Then there was that strange object on one side of the collar. She couldn't see it very well, but she took note of it. For all she knew it was also a weapon of some sort.
Of lesser note was the off-white shirt he wore and two fake wings attached to it. She knew they were merely for decoration as she had once asked Fuuka about it, but it was still a strange sight to see on a dog.
"Are you ready Weiss?" The heiress nodded wordlessly to the question and drew her weapon, Myrtenaster. "How do you believe we should engage them?"
That had also been the question that Weiss was asking herself just moments ago, and a part of her was glad that Pyrrha thought highly enough of her to ask for her opinion. Still, it was doubtful they could outsmart an android that was made for combat. But then again, it wasn't as though she knew everything that Weiss and Pyrrha were capable of.
"Could you handle Aigis on your own for a while?" she asked in turn. "Koromaru is an unknown but he shouldn't pose that much of a problem. Between my Semblance and my Dust, I should be able to incapacitate him in a few minutes at most. After that, we can both focus on Aigis and her Persona."
The redhead nodded, her face completely serious now that the fight was about to begin. "Then we are in agreement." A part of Weiss preened at the thought that the two of them came up with the same plan. "Once you've taken care of him, see if you can eliminate Aigis's Persona first. Afterwards, between the two of us, we should be able to prevent her from summoning it again."
That plan would have to do. It's not like she had a better one. Besides, between the two of them, Pyrrha had much more combat experience. Smart as she was, Weiss did not believe that she had a better head for combat tactics than the four-time champion. In addition, Pyrrha had fought Aigis to a standstill before, whereas Weiss lasted less than three minutes against her mechanical teammate that one time Akihiko had each team fight their own members.
As the four combatants got into position, the opening in the hard-light wall sealed shut. Beyond the blue walls made of light, their teammates and friends chittered anxiously, some cheering loudly. Though she was the one fighting, she could understand their excitement. This was the first time that Aigis would be fighting all out. That, and most were probably wondering what Koromaru was capable of combat-wise.
Both she and Pyrrha held their blades at the ready. Opposite them, Koromaru looked ready to pounce and Aigis settled into her usual stance with her trench knives, a boxing stance like Akihiko's but slightly different. Her trench knives were certainly well-suited for her fighting style. With the way the grip was formed, Aigis could spread open her fingers to shoot without having to sheathe or drop her weapon. Blades when in close quarters, and guns when necessary, be it from afar or up close.
And unlike a vast majority of weapons used by Huntsmen and Huntresses, there would be virtually no delay as there was no need to transform her weapon. All she needed to do was open her fist or close them as needed. Weiss was thankful she had Pyrrha as her partner. Anybody else would lose in a few minutes, as shown by their Combat class. More so now that Aigis would not be holding back.
Weiss could only hope that Pyrrha could last long enough now that Personas were in play. She had seen five days ago just how powerful Athena was when Aigis demonstrated her Persona's abilities against Professor Giollah. She would just have to take care of Koromaru swiftly in that case.
All four combatants were ready, eyes steely and locked onto their opponents, ready to fight.
Then, at an unseen signal, all four charged forward.
Pyrrha ran to the right, Aigis mirroring her as expected. Weiss was briefly surprised that Aigis hadn't summoned her Persona first, but all the better for Pyrrha in that case. Then, the rapid staccato of gunfire reached her ears, followed by the sound of the bullets impacting metal.
A quick glance showed that Pyrrha had raised her shield to protect her body. But the gunfire halted her advance as she almost literally danced to avoid the bullets aimed for her legs. With such a large number of bullets, it was almost a miracle she could avoid them all. Just further proof of her prowess in Weiss's eyes.
She turned her attention forward as she and Koromaru neared one another. They were both armed with melee weapons, but Weiss had an advantage. Mitsuru had asked that they not hold back, so she wouldn't. She would end the fight in two moves. She had already pre-selected the Dust type she wanted to use prior to starting the fight. All that was left, was to use it.
She spun Myrtenaster in her hand as she skid to a halt not far from her opponent, holding the weapon in a reverse grip. She stabbed the ground just as she pulled the trigger on Myrtenaster, allowing some of the Dust to flow out. A pulse of her Aura activated the Dust. And starting from the point where her rapier touched the glyph, ice spread out along the ground in all directions.
In only a few seconds, she had covered her half of the training area with a layer of ice. With a smug look of victory, she turned her eyes towards Koromaru, knowing that, by now, he would be wide open as he struggled to remain standing, if he hasn't fallen already. One specific glyph, one more application of Dust, and his limbs would be frozen in place, unable to move, let along fight.
Perhaps a third step would be prudent, a thick wall preventing Aigis from freeing him. Yes, that would do. She raised Myrtenaster once more to put her plan into action, when the sound of a Persona being summoned reached her ears.
The sound of a gunshot, followed by the sound of shattering glass, no longer surprised her as she had come to grow familiar with the sound of a Persona being summoned. Though until recently, only a Persona-user was allowed to fight against a Persona-user. It was the successful experiment the past weekend that allowed them to have this training session now.
What had her gawking in disbelief, however, was the fact that the sound did not come from Pyrrha's side of the battlefield. Had she been in any state to pay attention, she would have heard the cries of surprise from outside the hard-light walls.
Roughly twenty feet in front of her was Koromaru, standing on the ice by using his claws to keep from slipping. And high above him, a familiar bluish-white light appeared and grew in size, rapidly taking shape. Soon the light faded and her eyes were treated to a sight that would send most people screaming in terror.
A massive three-headed dog hovered over Koromaru. Its form was sleek and lean, but obviously powerful. Its body was black on the upper and outer parts, blue along the inside and underneath, with a white muzzle and six menacing, yellow eyes that glared right at her. Rather than paws, the ends of its legs slipped into long, narrow, metal cones with tridents at the tip. A long tail, rat-like in appearance, whipped around wildly as though seeking something to strike.
Its necks were longer than would otherwise be normal, and each one had a wide, decorative steel collar with a chain connecting them to one another. The ends of the chain were attacked to two wings, each one attached to its shoulders. If Koromaru's 'wings' were feathery in appearance like an angel's, the wings the three-headed dog over him were more bat-like in appearance. Like that of a devil's.
Of all the Personas she had seen, Koromaru's was, without a shred of doubt, the most terrifying of them all. Especially since all three heads were growling and snarling, baring their sharp teeth at her. It reared back and let out a bloodcurdling howl. A howl far more terrifying than any that even a Beowolf could produce. A howl that shook her very core.
Then, her world exploded in flames.
Pyrrha's heart nearly stopped in fright when she heard the howl. Only necessity kept her moving, keeping away from Aigis as her knives danced through the air with an occasional burst of gunfire that kept her on her toes. Literally. A brief glance had given her a glimpse of the massive three-headed canine that was, undeniably, summoned by Koromaru. As absurd as that thought was, there was simply no other explanation for the appearance of another Persona.
Though its height at the shoulders was a little less than half of what she had come to associate with a Persona, it was still quite massive for a dog. And even standing face-to-face with it, Pyrrha could guess that it would still tower over her. Her, who was the second tallest in the group of sixteen and standing roughly an inch shorter than Jaune when she was wearing her boots.
And that howl.
Ignoring the fact that a Persona was unheard of prior to SEES's arrival, there was just something otherworldly about the massive canine's howl. Every second it went on tore at her resolve, drowning her in despair like a massive claw reaching out from a dark abyss seeking to claim her very soul.
She could only imagine what Weiss was feeling, facing the beast head-on as she was.
Then came several explosions that ripped through the other half of the training area. Concerned for her current partner, Pyrrha disengaged from Aigis to give herself a chance to survey the situation.
A hellhound. There was no other way to describe Koromaru's fearsome Persona as it hovered in place amidst the flames. Though none of the flames were near it, let alone Koromaru, Pyrrha's perspective put it in the middle of the crimson storm that burned through the air. The flames only lingered for a short while, but that image would forever be seared into her mind.
Then her brief respite was gone as Aigis came flying in. Pyrrha's red and gold blade clashed against Aigis's dark gray ones for a brief moment. Then the darker blades pulled back and came in again from a different direction. The Mistralian just barely blocked it before she found those same blades coming from yet another direction.
Just as she blocked one knife, Aigis brought her other hand around. But instead of attacking, her open hand was positioned below her waist, the fingers aimed upwards at Pyrrha's torso. Fingers that doubled as gun barrels. The Mistralian barely managed to dodge in time, the bullets whizzing past her torso. But that left her unbalanced, and Aigis didn't hesitate to take the opening.
Her Semblance grabbed hold of her shield and brought it up in front of her along with her arm to block the attack. It felt strange, manipulating Akoúo like that while she was still holding onto it, but it was the only option she could think of at that time to avoid letting Aigis land the first blow of their duel.
Aigis had shown that she was capable of powering through Pyrrha's weaker magnetic fields, so she couldn't manipulate her weapons subtly like she normally did. The same could be said of the bullets. One or two was easy to manipulate subtly. Dozens? No. She'd have to reveal her Semblance in all its glory by outright stopping that many as she wouldn't be able to focus on each of them enough to manipulate them the way she normally did.
She could, however, manipulate her own weapons. Still, that did little to help in the long run as Aigis was almost literally running circles around her.
When Mitsuru said that Aigis was holding back, she didn't think she meant this much. The blonde's strength was unchanged, but her speed was slightly higher than when they had fought a few weeks ago. Even so, what made her more dangerous was that her manner of attacking was swifter and much, much fiercer. In addition, her already considerable defenses were just about impenetrable and immovable.
It didn't matter that Pyrrha was taller by at least half-a-foot, or that her weapon had a longer reach. With Aigis's swift movements, Pyrrha was unable to keep her from getting close enough to nullify the reach advantage. In fact, with Aigis so close to her, Pyrrha's longer weapons were actually holding her back as it became difficult to attack someone so close to her.
Not that if mattered much since Pyrrha could barely even find time to attack. Whenever she found an opening to do so, Aigis had already anticipated it and cut her off. Every plan was dead long before it could even be initiated. It was like fighting an entirely different person.
'No, that's wrong,' thought Pyrrha. As she clashed weapons with Aigis once more, emerald green met crystal blue. It wasn't that she was fighting a different person. She was simply fighting the 'real' Aigis now.
In Combat class, Aigis played the part of a human called Aigis Arisato. It was highly likely that holding back her abilities was meant to show that she was not so far above everyone, that someone, namely Pyrrha, was still her equal. It drew attention to her, but not so much that people would begin speculating why she was as good as she was. By fighting on Pyrrha's level, people would simply assume she was a prodigy, or someone who trained harder than others for many years.
But here and now, however, this was not Aigis Arisato, the Untouchable Girl.
This person, this machine right in front of her, was Aigis, the last of the seventh generation Anti-Shadow Suppression Weapons. A weapon. That's what she was right now.
There was a hardness in her eyes that was missing from them during Combat class. They weren't devoid of emotions like one would expect from an android, but they were just as cold, just as hard as the steel she was made of. And quite frankly…
It excited her.
She blocked another flurry of blows, Miló and Akoúo fending off Aigis's unnamed blades. They hadn't been fighting that long but Aigis had already taken control of the battle's pace. One moment the blonde was in front of her, then the next she was attacking from the side. And by the time Pyrrha had turned to properly face her, the blonde android had already moved on. Pyrrha was almost dizzy just trying to keep up.
Pyrrha could only imagine the looks on everyone's faces at the sight of the Invincible Girl struggling to keep up with an opponent. And if their classmates, perhaps even the entire school, saw this, then it would only be a matter of time before word of it reached her sponsors as they were always on the lookout for rumors and such that involved her. And from there, her family and tutor.
But Pyrrha couldn't care less right now. Rather than an expression of worry, a grin now dominated her face even as her arms trembled from withstanding Aigis's relentless attacks.
Before she was old enough to join the Mistral Regional Tournament, her only opponents were her classmates and her tutor. The former were far below her in terms of skill. The latter was far above her. One provided no challenge. The other lowered himself to provide her with enough of a challenge to help her grow.
When she was old enough to compete, she found people close to her own age who could fight on a higher level than her classmates. But they still weren't good enough. Even before growing proficient enough with her Semblance to use it subtly, she was skilled enough to dominate her age bracket. Her victories did not come easily, but neither did her opponents make her struggle for it.
The next three years were much the same. Decent opponents, but none were a decent challenge. None have ever forced her to struggle, to feel the possibility of defeat. Only her tutor provided her with the challenge she sought. But with him, there was never a chance of victory. Any victory she gained was shallow and fleeting as all she did was overcome whatever challenge he placed before her.
Only when she defeated him at his best would she consider it a true victory. But with over two decades of experience over her, that time was many years in the future. And by then, his prime would have passed. The strength she sought to overcome would have waned. And such a victory would feel just as empty and hollow.
After graduating from Sanctum, she made it known that she intended to attend Beacon. Her sponsors had urged her to attend Haven, as it would allow her to fulfill her duties even while attending school. But still she insisted on going to Beacon, reasoning that it would not only help spread her name further outside of Mistral, but it would also allow her to add to her fame by attending the most prestigious of the Huntsman Academies.
Those were not her true intentions, of course, but it was what made them agree, even if it meant putting off many planned events due to the distance from Mistral. It meant that she would need to return to Mistral during the breaks to fulfill her contract, rather than spending it as she pleased, but if that was the price to pay then so be it.
Entering Beacon had sparked her hopes. Standing within the walls of the most prestigious of Huntsman Academies, learning from staff picked by Headmaster Ozpin, a man renowned the world over as one of the greatest Huntsmen of this age, and fighting alongside the select few who passed the initiation. It felt as wonderful as she imagined it would be.
And yet, many of her classmates disappointed her.
Oh, they were competent. That much was never in question considering they attended Beacon. If she were to rate them, then a little over half of them could easily qualify for the regional tournament and have a decent chance of reaching the final eight. The rest would either struggle even against the easiest opponent the tournament had to offer, or fail to enter outright.
But none of them could pose enough of a challenge to satisfy her.
None, that is, save for one. The very same opponent she was facing now.
Aigis.
The world around her seemed to blur and then fade away. Only Aigis remained distinctly in focus. Her shield came up to block another flurry of strikes from the mechanical maiden, her sword doing the same when Aigis began to dance around to the side to circumvent the shield. She would occasionally fire a quick burst from her fingers, reminding Pyrrha not to grow complacent just because she blocked the knives.
She thought she could take advantage of the short gap wherein Aigis would need to reload. But clearly she underestimated the blonde in that regard.
When she had ejected the drum magazine on her wrist shortly after it ran out of bullets, Pyrrha tensed, ready to take whatever opening Aigis gave. But rather than taking the spare magazine attached to her thighs, Aigis simply touched it with her wrist. A few clicking sounds reached Pyrrha's ears, followed by Aigis raising her arm, the magazine now attached to her wrist in place of the old one. When she did, the other magazines slid upwards on the contraption that held it to her thighs.
She should have known that Aigis would have a way to reload without needing to use both hands. She could most likely lock and unlock whatever held the magazine to her arms with just a thought. The way she carried her spares, as well as the mechanism that managed them, also made it easy to reload in less than two seconds, if even that much.
She shouldn't have expected any less.
Only a few minutes into the fight and Pyrrha could already feel her muscles beginning to protest as she pushed them harder than ever before. Her tutor was faster and stronger, but he had never pressed her this hard for too long without giving her a few seconds to breathe and re-evaluate the situation. Aigis was so relentless that Pyrrha couldn't afford to let her muscles relax for even a single second.
Yet the redhead found that she couldn't care less.
She was struggling. She was being pushed back ever so slowly. She had yet to be hit but she knew it was only a matter of time before Aigis's superior tactical acumen and abilities of observation found a way to get around her gradually weakening defenses. But…
It was far too early to be giving in. Especially when she was only just beginning to enjoy the battle, as one-sided as it currently was. Lessons drilled into her by her tutor surfaced in her mind. When faced with an opponent, carefully consider their abilities and yours. Compare them objectively and determine first whether victory was possible. If it was, then take it. If it wasn't, then find a way to make it possible.
In terms of speed and strength, they were equal. In terms of raw power, Aigis was undoubtedly superior with her Persona. In terms of skill, Aigis was superior by a small margin. For the moment at least, as she may still be hiding some of her skills. In terms of tactical planning, Aigis was most likely superior. At best, they were equal only because Pyrrha was highly experienced when it came to fighting human opponents, unlike Aigis who specialized in killing Grimm.
Then again, SEES, Aigis included, had that mysterious trainer of theirs who had supposedly trained them for eight straight months, pushing them far beyond their limits at every session. If even Aigis had trained at a level higher than she was normally capable of, then Pyrrha couldn't really say that Aigis was inexperienced against humanoid opponents. Not unless their trainer wasn't human. Not to mention the past two months of Combat classes, weekly group training sessions, and their own personal training regimens.
No. Aigis was definitely her better even in terms of tactical planning.
That, and many other factors filtered into Pyrrha's mind. Each one was evaluated and compared with her own abilities. At the end, she could only come to a single conclusion. One that she had already known the moment she locked blades against her foe.
Aigis Arisato, first-year student at Beacon and leader of Team ASYR, was her equal. But Aigis, the Anti-Shadow Suppression Weapon and Persona-user, was her better.
And she wouldn't have it any other way.
It galled her to be the first to escalate the fight. Being the first to reveal an ability or skill that could turn the tide of the table was a sign that she was inferior. Someone with the upper hand, someone stronger, would have no need of it after all. But in this case, her opponent was the superior fighter. There was no shame in admitting that.
It would, however, be shameful if she lost now without giving it her all.
And so, heedless, or perhaps uncaring, of the fact that there were fourteen people in the room who would see it, Pyrrha shoved Aigis away forcefully with her shield and immediately focused on the blonde's body.
Metal.
Metal everywhere. Her arms, her legs, her torso, her head. Every single part of her was composed of so much metal. This would be easy.
Her shield arm rose in front of her. And Aigis rose with it, blue eyes wide in surprise.
Pyrrha grinned even wider. Now…
Now the fight can really begin.
A wall of ice formed in front of her just as another glyph appeared beneath her feet and propelled her to the side just as another explosion ripped apart the wall like it was made of wet paper. But that was fine. Using the explosion as a smokescreen, Weiss formed another glyph to propel her in the direction of the diminutive white beast, changing directions faster than any human could manage normally.
But when she cleared the smoke, there was nobody there. The soft patter of tiny feet was her only warning. She rolled forward just as Koromaru leapt, the knife in his mouth cutting through where her torso had been. Myrtenaster sung through the air, the Dust cartridge triggering and a glyph forming beneath her feet. But before she could execute her attack, Koromaru leapt away, sensing the danger he was in.
At the same time, Weiss back-flipped as another attack from the larger black beast went off. Still in mid-air, the force of the explosion knocked her back further than expected. All the same, she landed on her feet as though she had planned it.
She could now understand why Mitsuru had said not to hold back. Perhaps it was his sharp instincts as an animal, but whatever the reason was, Koromaru was surprisingly adept at combat. But had it been just him, Weiss would have taken him out of the fight within the first minute or two of fight, just as she had planned.
'Dust damn it all, how was I supposed to know that a DOG could have a Persona?' Again and again, that thought along with similar ones dominated the heiress's mind. It was completely mindboggling. Had she not been in a fight, she would still be gaping at it, completely slack-jawed and her mind self-destructing as it tried and failed to process the fact that a Dust-damned dog, A DOG, had a Persona. A Semblance.
'First a robot, now a dog. What next, the White Fang having a change of heart and turning themselves in? Or maybe the Grimm sending an envoy wishing for peaceful coexistence?'
She hastily dodged as flames erupted around her once more, then dodged once more as Koromaru leapt past her with his knife just barely missing. The timing was getting closer and closer. Either Koromaru was getting better at coordinating his attacks with his Persona, or she was getting too distracted. Both perhaps.
She tightened her grip on Myrtenaster and took a deep breath. She had been holding back since she didn't want to hurt Koromaru. But that didn't mean she had to hold back the entire time. After all, she had one target that she could fight with all her might.
She parried the knife as the albino dog leapt towards her once more, thrusting downwards towards his exposed flank. Koromaru simply leapt away. As expected. A glyph formed where she struck followed by Dust flowing down the length of her blade. A measured combination of water and wind Dust for her favored element.
Ice.
Just like the first time, a sheet of ice covered her half of the training area in less than two seconds. She saw Koromaru stumble a bit before regaining his balance. But that wasn't what she was waiting for. She leapt back instinctively, watching as numerous explosions ripped through the area and destroyed the ice in just as little time as it took it to form.
She raised her hand and eight glyphs appeared in front of her forming two parallel horizontal lines of four glyphs each, all aimed at her target. She triggered the Dust release and swung Myrtenaster through all four in a wide sweeping arc. A massive spear of ice shot out from the center of each glyph from the back row, accelerating as they passed through the second front row of glyphs and crossing the distance between her and her target in barely a second.
She didn't know whether it was by Koromaru's command, or if the Persona was sentient enough to react quickly – Weiss resolved to ask about that later on – but two of the spears were destroyed along the way by an explosion of flames. The third struck the canine Persona head-on, while the fourth passed through the dissipating body.
But while this was happening, Weiss was already on the move. She approached Koromaru swiftly, aided by several glyphs. She didn't know how he summoned his Persona. Her best guess was the collar, followed by the possibility of an implanted Evoker of sorts. Either way, she had no way of disarming him like she could any of the others. As such, she would just have to stop him directly.
Koromaru dodged her first thrust of her rapier by leaping to the side. But, again, that played right into her plans. She had purposely aimed just a little to the left, making it more likely that he would move in the opposite direction. And now he stood right where some fragments of ice were still scattered on the ground, remnants of the many walls she had erected that he had subsequently destroyed shortly after.
Had his Persona used the lower-tiered attacks, flames rather than explosions, then those chunks of ice would have melted rather than shattered. As disorienting as it had been to be at the center of a chain of explosions, the long-term result turned out better for her.
A flick of her thumb had the Dust cylinder inside Myrtenaster rotate, changing the Dust that would be released. She swung one more, bringing her rapier down vertically despite Koromaru not being in range. As she did, fine red Dust poured out from the base of Myrtenaster, running down the blade and flying off in a wide arc, bursting into flames as she channeled her Aura through the blade to activate the Dust as it left the chamber.
Weiss grinned as Koromaru remained in place, the wave of fire passing to his right. She swung again, aiming to his left this time. Then she repeated this action once more on each side. The fire made contact with all the ice, rapidly melting them and causing large puddles to form. The second wave of fire heated the water, boiling it and causing it to turn into steam in just a few seconds.
She didn't know when he would summon his Persona again so she would have to act quickly. She reached deep within her and called forth a massive glyph, one of the largest she had formed to date. It was easily fifteen feet across, if not twenty. She rotated the Dust cylinder once again and reversed her grip on Myrtenaster. With a victorious grin, she stabbed the blade down just as ice Dust flowed out.
Reversing the earlier process, the steam quickly condensed, cooling into water and rapidly freezing, aided by the Dust, and its form manipulated by the glyph. Within two seconds, a massive dome of ice was erected before her, Koromaru encased in the center.
She stood there for one second. Then two. Then three. When a full five seconds had passed, she nodded, her grin growing wider once she was certain that he would not escape.
She turned around, ready to run to Pyrrha's aid, when something flew past her and crashed into the dome of ice, the wind from the object's passing whipping her clothes due to its speed. When she turned around, she found Aigis pushing herself off the floor and settling into a stance once more.
Weiss leapt back but readied Myrtenaster, knowing that she was no match for the android by herself. She had little to worry about as Pyrrha came to a stand beside her, sword and shield at the ready. There was a wide confident grin on the Mistralian's face as she prepared to face-off against Aigis once more.
"Reassessment complete. It seems I will not be able to win without Athena."
Aigis's words were spoken succinctly and almost coldly. While it still carried a hint of emotion, her manner of speaking had become robotic, mechanical. Weiss was only slightly surprised that she was no longer keeping up the façade of being human. But more than that, her words sent alarms ringing in her head.
Panic rose up within her as Aigis opened her hand and drew her Evoker, bringing it up to her head. "No!" She cried out and leaned forward, ready to charge in. But she knew she wouldn't make it. All that was left was to pull the trigger and Athena would come, making the battle that much more difficult.
Then, to her surprise, Aigis's arm shot out to the side, forcefully enough to throw the android off-balance. The Evoker flew from her hand, clattering to the ground and sliding to a stop just before the hard-light walls. Aigis regained her balance quickly and her cold blue eyes turned to the redhead beside Weiss.
Weiss followed suit and turned to Pyrrha, whose shield arm was outstretched in the same direction that the Evoker had flown to. Had that been Pyrrha's doing? Was that her Semblance? Telekinesis perhaps?
"What now, Aigis?" Pyrrha's words were sharp, but the grin didn't leave her face.
Seeing this, however, brought a grin to Weiss's face as well. Koromaru was frozen in a massive block of ice. Aigis had lost her Evoker. And the fact that she had been sent flying earlier was evidence that Pyrrha was more than a match for Aigis even though the android was no longer holding back. Perhaps Pyrrha had been holding back as well.
Weiss's own grin grew just a bit more smug. Victory was at hand.
She had seen far more terrifying things than the beast before her.
She was going to hold her ground and fight back.
She wasn't going to run.
Six yellow eyes glowed as the space around it burst into flames once more.
…
The beast before her was the most terrifying thing she had ever seen.
She was going to slowly move away and retreat.
She was going to run.
At least, that's what Blake wanted to do.
Unlike earlier when Koromaru's bark had caused her to flee in a panic, that ghastly howl from his Persona petrified her in her seat. If she hadn't already been sitting down on the bench, Blake was certain she would have fallen over as control over her body disappeared completely. And given that everyone else was standing closer to the training area to get a better view of the fight, she would have fallen flat on her back. Or her face.
Her breath came in erratic, staggered waves, and it was all she could do to hold back the scream that had been building up in the back of her throat ever since that… that… that demon appeared.
There was no other way to describe it. Black as night, glowing yellow eyes, sharp carnivorous teeth, able to call forth flames on a whim, if that wasn't a demon then nothing in the world could qualify as one.
This was it. This was why she had been so afraid of Koromaru when no other canine, not even the fiercest of wolves, had ever provoked such a reaction from her.
Dogs were easily domesticated, and even the strays were only dangerous when bothered. Usually. Wolves were fierce predators, easily driven off when one knew how, but predators nonetheless. Beowolves were even worse, but her instincts registered them as a danger in general rather than a canine, despite their appearance. Koromaru… Koromaru was above all that. An apex predator. No. He was above even those.
A predator of even apex predators. An Alpha among Alphas.
It was why her faunus instincts went crazy whenever she was near him. They weren't trying to caution her just because he was a dog. They had been trying to warn her of the danger he posed. Trying to warn her to either stay away, or not to do anything stupid if she couldn't stay away.
Still, he was a dog. She had seen for herself just how well behaved he was.
She had even heard other students in their dorm building talking about him. Some had expected him to be running around making a mess of things, clawing or gnawing on anything he could get his paws and jaws on. Others expected to one day step on his… waste, right as they stepped out of their dorm rooms. A few thought he would be keeping them up at night, barking and howling at anything and everything that moved in the dead of the night.
But none of those had come true. Koromaru only played with and ate what was offered to him. Koromaru always did his business outside. Since Akihiko and Ken had been the ones to volunteer to house him, they always made sure that Koromaru was outdoors whenever they were just to be safe.
She wasn't sure if Koromaru was noisy at night, the rooms were virtually soundproof save for when the windows were open, but since neither Ren nor Nora complained – Blake was certain Nora would be incredibly vocal about it too – then she could assume that Koromaru was just as well-behaved at night.
All-in-all, Koromaru was the ideal pet. Playful, friendly, disciplined, and more. He was everything one could ask for in any pet. But he wasn't just a pet, was he?
The armband on his foreleg said it all. He was a member of SEES, a group who fought against the Grimm when their land's Huntsmen and Huntresses – Mitsuru never did say what they were called in Japan – were unable to aid a certain area for whatever reason. SEES's jurisdiction was Iwatodai, the city they were based in. And there, Koromaru hunted the Grimm with his Persona just like the other members of SEES.
On that note, how does a dog, of all things, even have a Persona? Aigis she could, somewhat, understand. She had been created for that specific purpose after all. Atlas has yet to create an android that could generate Aura or Semblance, but Japan might have found something in their study of Personas that made it possible. But a dog? Really?
Blake would have shaken her head if she wasn't still frozen in fear. Never mind the Persona. Focus on the fact that she now knew why a dog, a small dog barely a foot-and-a-half tall, kept setting off every alarm in her head.
Now the only question was, what was she going to do about it beyond avoiding the danger?
"Woah!"
"What the hell?!"
"THAT'S SO COOL!"
Various cries of excitement and confusion drew her eyes and attention back to the fight. It didn't take her long to find the source of everyone's excitement. Pyrrha, standing with her right arm stretched out in front of her. Aigis, hovering over the ground by at least two feet.
The rational part of her mind that had been scared stiff by the canine Persona returned and she immediately began to assess the situation. It helped that the demon hound from hell was no longer in sight for whatever reason. There was no doubt that it was Pyrrha's Semblance at work. The question now was, what exactly was it? Telekinesis was the first and obvious choice. But, again, instinct told her there was something else to it.
Before she could consider it further, Pyrrha flung her arm violently to the left. Aigis followed the motion and was thrown through the air, crashing into a dome of ice that… Was that Koromaru inside it? When had that happened? At least that explained the missing demon.
Whatever the reason, it looked like the fight was winding down now. With Koromaru indisposed, it would only be a matter of time before Pyrrha and Weiss took down Aigis. And Persona or no, Aigis had little defense against Pyrrha's Semblance, especially if she was able to lift Aigis up that easily and throw her aside.
Blake watched as Aigis drew her Evoker and place the barrel against the side of her head. Unfortunately, Pyrrha didn't hesitate to wrench it out of her hand and throw to the far side of the training area.
That was it. It was over.
Pyrrha steadied her breathing as she approached Aigis, watching for any sudden movements as the blonde picked herself up after smashing into a dome of ice that hadn't been there earlier. Sparing it a glance, she noted the white form of Koromaru inside. It seems that Weiss had been able to remove him from the fight after all.
Strangely, that sent a wave of disappointment through her.
No. It wasn't strange at all. She knew why she was disappointed. Without Koromaru to keep Weiss busy, Pyrrha would no longer be able to continue her duel with Aigis. Though she had now revealed her Semblance, a part of her felt that Aigis would still have some answer to it. Some manner by which she could emerge victorious even though she would not be able to approach any longer. Or even move, if Pyrrha so willed it.
When Aigis drew her Evoker and began to raise it to her head, the champion found herself conflicted.
Did she allow it? Did she dare let Aigis summon her Persona, Athena? If she allowed it, then perhaps she could continue her duel. But… no, that would not be a proper duel then. She had her Semblance, Polarity. If she allowed Aigis to summon Athena only for Weiss to keep it busy then her desire for a proper challenge would go unfulfilled as it would mean Aigis would face her and her Semblance without her own.
But if she stopped Aigis from calling forth Athena, then the fight would end in short order. Despite the unexpected surge in skill and ferocity, Pyrrha could simply hold her up in the air, arms pointed away from them to prevent the android from shooting them. While held in that manner, Weiss could freeze her to end the fight in their favor.
Either way, her desire would go unfulfilled. She would once again be bereft of a proper opponent by which she could test the limits of her abilities.
Then again…
Pyrrha allowed the grin to slip onto her face at the thought that came to mind. Yes, that could work. Moreover, it would satisfy her personal need to keep using her Semblance now that she had openly begun use the full extent of her abilities. To hold back once more after unleashing more of her strength. Such a thing went against everything she had learned. If she went all-out, she would continue to fight all-out until the fight ended.
Even against an opponent who was already at a disadvantage.
And so, with that thought in mind, she forcefully wrenched the Evoker out of Aigis's hands, throwing it as far away as she possibly could. She could feel Weiss's tension dissipate a great deal even though she kept her guard up. They had won. That was what the shorter girl next to her was thinking.
It was almost a shame to burst that wonderful little bubble of hers.
Pyrrha locked eyes with the mechanical maiden, putting on a challenging grin. She hoped the few seconds she was giving her was enough for Aigis to come up with some sort of plan to either overcome her Semblance, or regain her Evoker to summon her Persona. "What now, Aigis?"
Pyrrha asked a question.
Someone answered.
Shards of glass appeared and began circling the area above the ice dome, followed by the appearance of bluish-white light. Someone was summoning a Persona.
"What!?"
Weiss's screech was drowned out by the howl as the three-headed hellhound that was Koromaru's Persona appeared. The howl was followed by flames bursting forth around it. Within seconds, the prison of ice that held its master was nothing more than a massive puddle that spread out across the training area's floor.
"Oh, of all the…" Pyrrha tuned out Weiss's complaints. Such things were useless in a battle.
Koromaru shook off as much water as he could from his fur before walking up to stand beside Aigis, growling menacingly in Weiss's direction. Clearly he hadn't taken being frozen very well. Or perhaps it was because escaping resulted in him being soaked in water. Either way, it looked like Weiss would be too busy to help her with Aigis.
If she had known that he would escape, then she wouldn't have thrown away Aigis's Evoker. Especially since she wouldn't just let Aigis pick it up now. Not without a fight at least.
Beside her, Weiss regained her composure and sighed. "At least we only have to deal with one Persona," she muttered softly, just barely audible to Pyrrha's ears.
But as though she had heard the heiress's words, Aigis spoke up next. "Summoning Persona."
"What!?"
While she would not have displayed it in such a boisterous manner, Pyrrha was just as shocked as the heiress when the familiar sound of shattering glass reached their ears. The grin on her face grew wider, threatening to split her face in two, when she saw light form above Aigis's head and take shape into the spear-wielding form of Athena.
It wasn't exactly how she planned on getting Aigis to summon her Persona, but one way was good as the other. Though in hindsight, she should have expected that she was capable of summoning Athena without an Evoker. Especially after seeing Koromaru do the same.
She most likely had an Evoker built into her systems. After all, she was a machine. And her creators would want her to be as efficient as possible. Using an Evoker like the others was far from efficient. Yes, she definitely should have expected this.
She didn't know how low Weiss's Aura had gotten while fighting Koromaru and his Persona, but Pyrrha's was still full, though not without great effort to keep it that way. Whatever they did, they would have to be careful. If Weiss was knocked out, then Pyrrha would stand little chance against four opponents when one of them was Aigis.
"Athena." Just that one word caused Pyrrha to tense. Yet she couldn't suppress the excitement building up inside her. Just how would Aigis start off? "Matar-"
A loud buzzer rang throughout the entire room. Then the transparent blue walls faded away.
All the tension and excitement left Pyrrha's body in that instant, replaced by a mixture of disappointment and anger. She didn't even notice as the two Personas disappeared and Aigis calmly went to retrieve her Evoker as though the fight hadn't been interrupted.
What happened? If Weiss's Aura had gone too low then they should have been alerted the moment it happened. Even if it was a delayed reaction, which meant the system needed to be thoroughly checked, then the walls should not have gone down like it did since Pyrrha's Aura was still full. So why? Why had the fight stopped?
Hearing the sound of footsteps approach, she turned to face whoever was approaching, ready to demand some answers.
It was Mitsuru who approached them, an apologetic look on her face. Behind her, Pyrrha could see the awed and impressed looks on everybody else's faces. "I apologize for ending the fight prematurely. In all the excitement, I had forgotten what the staff told me earlier. They will be performing maintenance on the training rooms from noon onwards. We'll need to vacate soon since they will be beginning shortly. Moreover…"
At that moment, a loud growl reached their ears. Weiss turned to the source, her face displaying her shock. Koromaru did the same, but his expression and posture was more of curiosity. Pyrrha looked absolutely mortified. "Yes, that," was all Mitsuru said, the smile on her face looking positively amused.
Pyrrha just looked down with a deep frown as though to scold her stomach for that embarrassing display, the blush on her face growing hotter. 'At least not everybody heard it.'
"YOU WERE CHEATING?!"
Yang shout was, thankfully, contained by the dorm room's soundproofing. Who knows just how her words might have been understood, or misunderstood, had anybody else heard them?
After eating lunch, Mitsuru asked everyone to gather at Team KYBT's dorm room as she had something she wanted to let them all know about that day's training session. None of them expected the bombshell she had dropped on them though.
"Geez, you gotta speak up louder Yang," Junpei threw in, taking his hands off his ears. Though the soundproofing kept outsiders from hearing the shout, the small room meant the volume was amplified as it was contained. "I don't think the rest of the world can hear ya."
"Since there were technically no rules, you can't really consider it cheating though," said Akihiko, grinning as he and SEES watched their teammates' reactions to Mitsuru's news.
Yang was the only one to vocally respond, but they could all see that there were mixed feelings on what they were just told. Pyrrha, Weiss, Blake, and Ren were the more understanding of the group. They seemed to realize just why SEES did what they did. Yang didn't necessarily disapprove, but the news certainly came as a shock. Nora… looked excited for some reason. Akihiko resolved to let Ren handle that one. Ruby looked a little confused for some reason, as did Jaune.
"Allow me to reiterate to see if I understand," said Weiss, turning to Fuuka with a serious expression. "Your role in SEES is not just to keep an eye on the enemy and acting as a communication hub, but also to analyze your opponents?"
Fuuka nodded. "That's right."
"And by analyzing them, you can get a rough idea of their strengths, weaknesses, and even their capabilities?" Again Fuuka nodded. "During the fight earlier, you were actually communicating with them," Weiss waved her hand in the direction of SEES, "And helping them against us?" Another nod. "And you've been doing this ever since you arrived here?"
At that question, the teal-haired girl shook her head. "My abilities and my range are limited unless I summon Juno, though the limits vary depending on the ability. For example, even without summoning Juno I was able to connect with everyone during the initiation to guide them and even detect the Grimm in the area. Normally I can detect Grimm that way without any drawbacks. Since I was focusing on both detection and communication, however, I couldn't consciously control my body at the same time, which left me exposed."
"So that's how you guys managed to partner up with each other." Surprisingly, it was Nora who made that observation. "I was wondering how you guys managed to do that. I mean, I had to hide from six different people when I was looking for Ren. One of them started chasing me but I managed to get away. Then a lot of Grimm got in the way. And then I finally found Ren when I used our super secret signal, then I booped him, and then we became partners."
"Yes, that's what we did." Fuuka had learned not too long ago that Nora was prone to going off on a tangent. Usually the best thing to do was listen to the first two or three things she said as those were the most likely to be connected to the actual conversation. Everything else might not be directly related any longer. Or even slightly related.
"Or did we become partners, then I booped him? I can't really remember which came first. Ren, do you remember?" Ren sighed then motioned for Fuuka to go on while he addressed Nora's question.
Nodding in thanks, Fuuka turned back to Weiss to continue her explanation. "As for my other abilities, actively analyzing someone or something needs to be done up close unless I summon Juno. But the information I can gather without Juno is very limited, so it's best for me to summon Juno if I want to be able to properly analyze anything."
"How about now?" asked Ruby, leaning forward in her seat towards Fuuka. "What can you pick up from me?"
Fuuka only gave her a quick glance before answering. "At the moment, all I can tell is that your Aura is still at about eighty percent. Earlier, during the fight, I could tell when you were going to use your Semblance since I had Juno to help me."
"That's still so cool!"
Fuuka's words, however, reminded Yang of what she and Mitsuru had spoken about earlier. "Wait. Mitsuru, is this how you figured out my Semblance?"
"Yes, and no," she answered with a shake of her head. Then she glanced at all the Aura-users, addressing them all at once. "If it wasn't obvious yet, then yes, Fuuka can detect and analyze one's Semblance when it is in use and, as she said, just prior to someone using it. As such, she now knows the Semblance of anyone who used it in the training matches earlier."
She then raised a single hand up, forestalling anything they might have had to say about it. "However, she has not disclosed this to any of us and it shall remain that way for those of us who do not yet know."
"What about you?" asked Yang, a faint tone of accusation in her words. "If Fuuka was the one to figure it out, then how did you know what mine was?"
Whether she noticed or was affected by her teammate's veiled accusation, Mitsuru didn't show it outwardly. "Artemisia possesses limited scanning capabilities. Prior to Fuuka joining SEES, I was the one who provided support to the team, though my range is significantly smaller even when Artemisia is summoned. Seeing as I was next to you almost the entire time, I had little difficulty analyzing you during those brief moments that I was not engaging you directly."
Yang looked into Mitsuru's eyes briefly, searching for any signs that the redhead was lying, before nodding in acceptance. She already knew that Mitsuru was telling the truth. She had no evidence of such, save for a gut feeling, but she trusted her instincts. Especially in cases where she could not work things out logically.
"I take it then that you already knew about mine even before today since we've fought before." Pyrrha said to Fuuka. They had fought one another before, after all, so it was possible that she had detected her use of Semblance during that time.
Surprisingly, Fuuka gave a minute shake of her head. "Not entirely, no. It's even harder for me to use Juno's abilities while I'm fighting. At best, I could tell where everything is without looking. But anything more than that would cause me to lose focus on the fight. It wasn't until today that I knew exactly what your Semblance was."
"Wait, isn't it just telekinesis?" Yukari asked. "Like Professor Goodwitch?"
Fuuka turned to Pyrrha, as though wondering if she should say anything. Pyrrha shook her head in response but then turned to Yukari. "While not unheard of, people having the same Semblance is still fairly rare. But to answer your question, my Semblance is Polarity."
"Huh?" came Ruby's confused voice. "But… you picked up Aigis and threw her. What does that have to do with poles?"
Next to Ruby, Weiss groaned in annoyance. "Polarity, you dunce. As in magnetism?"
In response to her words, however, Yang growled from Ruby's other side. "Hey, watch it Ice Queen."
Weiss opened her mouth to retort but seemed to think better of it. Instead, she huffed and looked away from the blonde and her sister. She knew how to pick her battles. This was not one where she would come out victorious.
Seeing them settle down, Pyrrha decided to answer Ruby's question in a kinder manner. "My Semblance allows me to control magnetic forces. By doing so, I can manipulate any magnetic object."
"So… if the fight continued then you would have won against Aigis?" asked Jaune, glancing between his partner and the blonde that she had been facing not too long ago.
Much to his surprise, both Pyrrha and Weiss shook their heads. "I case you didn't notice," Weiss began sharply, "Aigis could summon her Persona without an Evoker. If Pyrrha held her in place, Aigis's Persona could simply attack Pyrrha to disrupt her focus."
"Couldn't she just hold the Persona in place then?" Jaune asked in turn, looking a bit nervous as he spoke with the heiress despite the point he had made. "I mean, it's made of metal too, right?"
Before Weiss could respond, Jaune's partner beat her to the punch. "It's not, actually," answered Pyrrha with a shake of her head. "I tested my Semblance on their Personas the day of the initiation. Despite their appearances, their Personas aren't made of metal. Though I suppose it's because they came from within and are not made by human hands. If I had to fight Athena, I would have to do it with my own abilities without relying on my Semblance."
"Ah, that reminds me. Mitsuru?" Said redhead turned to the Schnee heiress upon being addressed. "Are Personas sentient? Can they act without being told what to do?"
Seven pairs of eyes joined Weiss's as they turned to the leader of SEES for an answer. The question was not one they had considered, but it was an interesting point to consider. Did the members of SEES control every act that their Personas made? Were the Personas free to act as they pleased when not obeying a command? Or was it somewhere in the middle?
Their curiosity grew when Mitsuru frowned and looked down. "To be honest, I do not know the exact answer to that question. Nor is it as easy as performing tests to determine the truth. The most likely answer is that, even without consciously commanding them verbally or mentally, their connection to us allows them access to our subconscious thoughts, acting on our plans and ideas as though we had commanded them."
"There have been times when I did not need to tell Artemisia what to do since she was already enacting my plan. Even improvised plans were put into motion without delay as though we had discussed it beforehand."
While the answer seemed to satisfy most of them, Weiss found a small flaw in her words. "Isn't that evidence enough then?" she asked. "It seems to me that they aren't sentient. Merely connected to you on such an intimate level that you need not speak or think directly to them to make your desires known."
But despite her words, Mitsuru shook her head. "If that were true, then our Personas would not be able to disobey us. Correct?" Curious as to where this was leading, Weiss nodded. "If that were the case, then what of the instances where a Persona manifests itself to attempt to kill its summoner?"
At first, none of them could imagine such a thing. None of them could comprehend how their Personas, their Semblance, could turn on them like that. Then some of them remembered that this wasn't the first time Mitsuru mentioned such a thing.
Nearly two months ago, when SEES first explained their Personas to their teams and the Headmaster, she had mentioned the possibility that a Persona could go on a rampage, possibly even attacking and killing the summoner. This was, however, the first time she mentioned a Persona summoning itself to do so.
It was a grim reminder of just how different a Persona was to Semblance.
A Semblance was just another ability that one gained, much like swordsmanship or marksmanship. And just like the latter two, one needed to train with their Semblance in order to become more proficient at it. How powerful a Semblance could potentially become was, ultimately, up to the person who used it.
A Persona, however, was more like having a partner that you could call to your side at any time. You could call upon them when necessary to fight alongside you. Perhaps even fight the entire battle for you. But hearing this, it was less of a partner and more of an ally. An ally which could turn on you and literally stab you in the back when you least expected it.
Nobody noticed Chidori raise a hand to her neck.
"But how is that even possible?" asked Ren, his face scrunched up in thought with his fist just below his lip. "If your Persona is the equivalent of our Semblance, then it's a part of your very soul. How could something like that turn against you?"
Mitsuru shut her eyes, took a deep breath, and sighed. "We don't know."
It wasn't entirely a lie. Strega and the others whom Ikutsuki had experimented on had been the ones to face such a scenario. In those cases, it was because their Personas were artificially awakened that the Personas turned against them. Research notes the Kirijo group found among Ikutsuki's files after his death mentioned that none of them could control their Personas completely. He had concluded afterwards that only a naturally awakened Persona could be controlled properly by its summoner.
The sole exception was Shinji. Despite having awakened his power naturally, he was unable to control his Persona. While they didn't know for certain if it had ever attempted to kill him, the simple truth was that Castor had turned against him.
Deciding to switch to a less serious topic, Junpei turned to Aigis. "So Ai-chan," he began a cheerfully as he could naturally manage, "How's it feel to cut loose? Been a while since you fought like that after all. Heck, now that I think about it, the last time we fought like that was before coming here."
"Huh? But you guys use your Personas against each other, right?" Jaune asked his team leader.
In return, Junpei shrugged. "Yeah, but we still gotta be careful and all. Can't exactly blow up everything I see when we don't have Aura."
As always, Yukari had something to say about it. "Says Stupei, the guy who blew himself up."
"Gimme a break Yuka-tan. I almost won, didn't I?"
"Almost. When a plan like that works, it's called genius. When it doesn't, and yours definitely didn't, it's just stupid. And what's with that stupid, childish nickname?!"
"What?" Junpei just grinned and shrugged his shoulders. "You didn't like it when I call you Yukaricchi so I thought I'd change it up a bit. How about Yuka-chin then?"
"You-"
Junpei was saved from another tongue lashing when Nora's voice was heard over the commotion. "Hey, Ren? Is that what they mean by arguing like a married couple?"
"WHAT?!"
Two voices shouted in response to the innocent question. Everyone else roared in laughter while the 'couple' in question sputtered out denials. Chidori's question certainly didn't make things any easier for the two.
"Oh? I didn't think you'd try to steal him from me, Yukari-san. Or that you'd try to cheat on me, Junpei-kun."
The renewed denials and laughter shook the room. Even Mitsuru was struggling to maintain her image, one arm around her abdomen while her other hand was curled into a fist in front of her mouth to keep herself from laughing boisterously.
But amidst all that laughter, a single pair of blue eyes watched on, saddened and envious. And in turn, another pair of blue eyes saw this and grew sad as well.
Later that night, Aigis stood on the rooftop, gazing up at the moon. It was almost full once more, with only a small shattered portion visible from her vantage point.
Even she was not immune to the troubles that plagued SEES. Though she was a machine, she could not help the uneasiness that grew as the full moon drew near. Nor could she ignore the restlessness inside her whenever that night came.
In less than a week, it will have been a year since the day they defeated the twelfth and, supposedly, final Arcana Shadow. But to Aigis, that was not what was important to her. That same memory brought to mind the events of the following night. And while SEES had long since forgiven her, she found herself feeling guilty once more as the anniversary of that night approached. The night when she-
The sound of the door being opened interrupted her thoughts. Perhaps for the better. "Thank you for agreeing to meet with me, Aigis."
"You are welcome," she replied, turning around to face the one who had called her up to the roof. "Though, I am curious as to why you wished to meet like this, Pyrrha."
The red-haired girl closed the distance between them and moved to stand beside Aigis, facing away from the dorm and towards the looming silhouette of Beacon Tower. The shorter blonde turned around as well so they were facing the same direction. "I… wanted to talk to you about the fight earlier."
Aigis cocked her head to the side in question, wondering where this was going. "How did…" Pyrrha paused, as though searching for the right words. "How did you feel? About the fight, I mean."
"Feel?" Aigis considered the question only briefly before responding. "I am satisfied, I suppose. While I was unable to test Athena against you, I was able to gather sufficient combat data during our brief fight. As you are the strongest in our year, I now have a better assessment of where my own abilities stand as well as that of the rest of SEES."
"That's… not exactly what I meant." Aigis felt that Pyrrha was disappointed for some reason. "How did you feel during the fight? Were you… excited, perhaps, at being able to fight at your best? Or dissatisfied by the premature end?"
Excited? Dissatisfied? The latter perhaps, at being unable to fully test her capabilities, as had been the purpose of the fight, but her dissatisfaction was a minor thing as there would be other opportunities in the future. She could not discern the reason behind the questions.
Perhaps her confusion shone through since the tall Mistralian addressed her once more, looking slightly concerned. "Don't you feel thrilled by the prospect of fighting? By testing your skills against someone of equal or perhaps greater skill?" Pyrrha's face looked even more concerned when Aigis shook her head slightly. "No? Not even a little bit?"
"No, I do not," Aigis responded verbally along with another shake of her head. "Why do you ask?"
"It's… I…" Pyrrha seemed to be at a loss for words so Aigis patiently waited for her to find them. "What do you feel when you fight?"
"Purpose," Aigis responded without delay, looking at towards the moon. "I am an Anti-Shadow Weapon. I was created to combat the Shadows. The Grimm. As such, I feel a sense of purpose when I fight them. But at the same time, it is a painful reminder of the truth."
"What truth?"
"That I am a weapon, first and foremost." Aigis shut her eyes, delving deep into her memory and calling upon a specific group of memories. Memories of countless nights running through a dark, seemingly endless corridor, firing dozens, hundreds of bullets at foes of various forms that they encountered. "But one day…"
Aigis raised her left hand and pulled off her glove, revealing the synthetic covering of her hand and her gray-tipped finger-barrels. Though the chamber was empty of bullets, a precaution she had been taking just in case, the tips slid open as though to call attention to them. "One day, weapons like myself will no longer be necessary. And when that day comes…"
She paused briefly to take aim at the moon high above them, the image of Nyx's true form superimposed over it. "… Once I have accomplished my initial duty, then I can allow myself to leave behind the past. Only then can I truly begin to go beyond my original purpose, to live in a manner solely of my own choosing." A click sounded from her hand as she fired, the image of Nyx fading from her eyes as though destroyed by the imaginary shot.
Silence descended upon them as the weight of Aigis's words settled. Once, almost an entire year from her perspective, all she wanted was to live. To be more than what she was. That had not changed. Her words now were simply a confirmation of that desire.
She didn't know what sort of future awaited her. She didn't know with absolute certainty if she had the ability to become something more than what she was. But she knew one thing for certain. She would live. For herself, and for the one who had given her the chance to do so.
A soft laugh came from her left. She lowered her arm and turned to face Pyrrha, who had raised her head to face the sky as well. The laugh sounded almost bitter, but still carried a hint of amusement. "I see. I guess I was wrong. I thought that…"
"Pyrrha?" Aigis prompted when the taller girl's voice faded.
Her voice seemed to snap the redhead out of her distracted state, shaking her head to clear her thoughts. "I'm sorry. It's nothing. Really."
Though she said that, even Aigis could tell that something was bothering the Mistralian. Her shoulders were slightly slumped, the smile she gave was clearly forced, and her emerald green eyes were dull. "Do you wish to talk about it?" she asked, remembering something she had once been told. "I do not know if I can help, but Fuuka-san once said that, even if all one can do is listen, sometimes it is enough. And if it will help, then I am more than willing to listen."
Pyrrha seemed to consider the offer for a while but seemed conflicted about something. Then she nodded minutely and turned around to sit on the roof's ledge, her back now facing Beacon Tower. She crossed her arms on her thighs and leaned forward, placing her weight over them. Aigis joined her and sat next to her, though she maintained a straight posture with her hands on her thighs.
Pyrrha took her time to begin, gathering her thoughts and preparing herself. This was the first time she had opted to speak of her feelings on fighting. She couldn't deny the disappointment she felt upon hearing that Aigis had not felt the same way, even the slightest bit. But she couldn't hold it against her. Not when she had spoken so earnestly and sincerely.
At the very least, she would show the same courtesy.
And so she shared her story. From the time she entered a combat school, to her first tournament, to her most recent victory, all the way to her entry into Beacon. Anything at all related to the feelings in her heart whenever she fought. Her tale ended with the two fights she had with Aigis, and the feeling of excitement that flowed through her veins and suffused every inch of her body when they clashed blades.
As her tale wound down, Pyrrha wondered what the blonde thought of her now. It was a part of her she had kept hidden for most of her life. Perhaps her tutor knew or suspected, but he had never spoken to her about it or given any hint of his knowledge if he did.
The Kingdom of Mistral was one that placed a great deal of effort into promoting arts and culture in various ways. Whether it was music, literature, fashion, paintings and sculptures, or theatrical displays, anything that could be considered artistic was highly valued. And while many people would not see it as such, martial arts was also seen as an art form, provided one did not merely throw their fists with wild abandon or swing a sword blindly and recklessly. If it wasn't seen as such then the kingdom would not host an annual tournament known the world over.
But it was one thing for someone's skills to grow into an art form. It was, however, another thing entirely to lose themselves in battle like she did during both fights against Aigis. Had she displayed even a hint of that in public, then people would have started comparing her to the lower class citizens, the 'uncultured and uncivilized brutes' who found pleasure in violence. After all, no true Mistralian would ever behave in such an uncivilized manner. Or so they say.
It was why she never voiced her dissatisfaction with the opponents she faced. Doing so would make people question her desire for a stronger opponent.
Even the manner which she used her Semblance was partly a result of their culture. There was nothing artistic, nothing 'beautiful', in simply disarming her opponent by taking their weapons away. But by using only subtle manipulation, she could make her skills appear more impressive than they normally were. Of course, that was only when her opponents managed to catch her off-guard. Something that happened less and less as the years passed.
So what would Aigis, an android from a land with a vastly different culture, think of her? What would she think, not of Pyrrha Nikos the Invincible Girl and four-time champion, but of Pyrrha Nikos the girl who grew to enjoy fighting?
The silence after her tale ended made her more anxious the longer it stretched. It could not have been more the five seconds. And yet each one of those seconds felt agonizingly long as she waited for Aigis's response. And when the blonde's lips parted, her heartbeat sped up even more.
"I cannot say that I understand how you feel." Though Aigis had already said as much earlier, it didn't stop Pyrrha from feeling disheartened all the same. "Nor do I believe I can help you." That much, at least, she had already suspected. "However, you should speak with Akihiko-san on this matter. I believe he may be the best person to speak with on this matter."
Now she was confused. "Akihiko? Why him?"
"Akihiko-san was once the captain of Gekkoukan's boxing team," Aigis explained, delving lightly into her memory banks to pull up what she knew of the silver-haired teen's boxing records. "He joined the middle school boxing team as a freshman, and, with the sole exception of practice matches when he first joined, has never been defeated in the six years that followed. And oftentimes, he is the only one who grows excited at the prospect of fighting."
"Really?" This was the first that Pyrrha had heard of this. Even Junpei, who had spoken of SEES's life in Japan, had only spoken of that first detail. Beyond Akihiko having been captain of the boxing team, all she knew about Akihiko was that he was, in Junpei's words, an exercise junkie. The latter was supported by the sight of him drinking protein shakes regularly as well as having a pair of dumbbells next to his bed. She sometimes also saw him walking around while using "He certainly doesn't seem very excited when he fights. If anything, I'd say he's one of the calmest of you all."
Aigis's response was a bit more somber, the blonde facing forward and down as she spoke. "I believe that began when Shinjiro-san passed away. Shinjiro-san was his best friend. And along with Mitsuru-san, the two of them often scolded Akihiko-san whenever he became excitable prior to a fight."
"I see."
Nothing more needed to be said. Pyrrha remembered very well the photograph of the rough-looking young man inside the casket. The one that she and everyone else had mistaken to be Minato Arisato, SEES's field leader and savior. It was not a long stretch to imagine that Akihiko had learned to temper his excitement after such an event, the weight of his friend's words now much more meaningful after his death.
And if there was one thing the people of Remnant knew very well, it was death and all the pain and suffering that it left in its wake. At the same time, it was that pain and suffering that strengthened those who could find the will to stand once again. Just as Akihiko had clearly done in the wake of his friend's death.
Of course, that same pain and suffering also caused many to falter and fall to the ground, unable or unwilling to move on any longer. That, however, was a completely separate matter.
Pyrrha rose from the ledge, brushing off the seat of her pants as Aigis did the same with her skirt, sensing that the conversation was coming to an end. She turned to the blonde and gave her a deep bow of her head. "Thank you, Aigis."
"You're welcome, Pyrrha. Though I apologize that I could not be of more help."
Pyrrha just gave a soft smile in response. Aigis's habit of apologizing for things that did not need it still surprised her at times. Now especially. Despite not receiving the answer she had hoped for, Aigis had helped her more than enough. First by listening, and now by pointing her to someone who might be able to relate to her issues better.
"Please, Aigis, don't apologize." Her smiled grew just a hint wider when Aigis cocked her head sideways in response. "I may have been disappointed earlier when it became clear that you did not feel the same way I did. But I think that that was just what I needed."
Pyrrha's smile only grew as she left, amused at leaving behind a much confused Aigis staring after her departing form. Before she left through the door leading into the stairwell, she glanced over her shoulder, unable to resist throwing in a few more parting words accompanied by a faintly manic grin.
"I look forward to our next match."
November 1, XX13
The following Sunday found the four teams with unexpected free time. It was unexpected in that they had expected another Persona testing session since that was what Headmaster Ozpin had told them the previous week before they parted ways.
As it turns out, the Headmaster had forgotten to inform them that the staff's monthly meeting was taking place today. As such, none of them would be available to help. And since nobody wanted to perform any unsupervised testing, their morning hours were now free.
Three members of Team ASYR had chosen to spend that morning in their dorm room. Fuuka wanted to continue learning more about Aigis's systems, which meant another scan of an inactive Aigis, followed by another session where the two of them went over the data.
Lately, however, Aigis's limited knowledge of her own systems was becoming more of a problem. The deeper they delved, the less she knew. In fact, Aigis had been unable to understand nearly a third of what they examined the last time. It had taken them nearly three hours to decipher the remaining two-thirds. Even so, understanding what it meant didn't tell them what it did or how it worked. Just that everything was working the way it was supposed to.
Weiss had debated between staying in the room or going to the library when she heard this. But after some consideration, she decided to stay in the room. Neither were very loud, and she had noticed that they were considerate enough to speak in low volumes whenever they noticed she was reading or studying. That, and it would be a hassle to bring all the materials she wanted to study to the library.
Ruby had gone out with Yang to Vale. She wanted to buy some parts to 'make her baby more awesome' and invited her sister to go with her. Faced with joining Yukari with her plans, or joining Mitsuru and Blake in the library, Yang agreed to accompany her sister. And knowing Yang, the two would spend more time in Vale than originally planned.
The first hour passed in silence. Weiss was reading one of the more advanced books on robotics and programming, and comparing the information in it with the information on her notebook, which contained notes she made yesterday after her discussion with the programmer her sister had asked to help her.
On the table was her Scroll, which now had a program that allowed her to test her programming knowledge. It would provide basic problems which she would be required to write a program for. The first few sets were basic programs, such as those used in most fields that required it, such as mathematical computations or a searching for specific data within a given database. Later problems were the kind she was aiming for, such as programming a robotic limb to perform a given task or to respond to a controller.
Some required her to work with a preexisting code, either by searching for and correcting an error, or studying and finishing an incomplete code. Later, still, she would be working on a mix of all those problems. Fixing faulty and incomplete codes while writing a new set that would integrate with the old ones to add to the existing program.
All in all, she had a fair bit of studying ahead of her if she wanted to complete all the problem sets.
The man she had spoken with did warn her that the application did not necessarily determine one's skill in programming as each problem was only made to help acclimatize a student to the work they would be doing in the future. No matter how good they were at solving those problems, writing multiple codes from scratch to create multiple programs that would co-exist with one another, never mind hundreds or even thousands altogether, was a new world entirely. Not to mention repeatedly testing everything she did to make sure they all worked as intended with each new addition.
Still, he reassured her that it would, at least, give her a taste of what it was like to program something. And that was enough for her. She had no intention of going into the field of robotics. Her only goal, was to-
"Excuse me, Weiss?"
Weiss calmly set down the book, making sure to close it so that her teammate did not see what it was about. "Can I help you with something?" She turned to sit sideways on the chair, her arm coincidentally lying on top of her notebook and, equally coincidentally, covering her notes.
Weiss made sure to keep her tone cordial, despite the interruption into her studies. Unlike with Ruby and Aigis, Weiss had nothing against Fuuka. The older girl, even if only by a single year, had been nothing but polite and considerate to her during the past two months despite their minimal interaction outside of school-related activities.
"I was hoping you could, yes." Fuuka handed her a few sheets of paper, which she accepted with the hand not covering her notes. When Weiss saw what was written on it, she had to clamp down on her emotions before she could let any of them show, even involuntarily. "I wanted to know if you recognized this."
Was that a trick question of some sort? Yes, she recognized what it was but not what it was exactly. Even if she hadn't known what the teal-haired girl had been doing just now, Weiss could have easily deduced what it was. But therein lay the question.
Why had Fuuka come to her? Actually, the answer to that question was clear. Obviously she had found out about Weiss's extracurricular studies. The real question was, how did she find out?
Weiss wasn't too concerned about whether or not Fuuka knew the reason behind her additional studies. For one thing, there were dozens of reasons why someone would be studying robotics and programming. Especially if that person was Atlesian, which she was.
No. It was far more important that she find out just how Fuuka knew. Did she think that it was because Weiss was Atlesian? Because Atlas fielded a robotic army? Did Fuuka perhaps glimpse the contents of the book in passing? Or did she rummage through Weiss's belongings at some point for whatever reason?
The answer would determine how she would proceed from this point on.
"No, I don't," she answered honestly, if a bit stiffly. She recognized it as the results of a diagnostic scan. Specifically, one that determined whether or not a program was running as it should be. What she didn't know was exactly what program it was checking. So technically, it wasn't a lie. "Though, if you don't mind me asking, what made you think I would know what this is?"
"Oh. Did I… make a mistake?" If Fuuka was only acting, then Weiss had to give her credit. She looked completely sincere and honest. "I saw the book you were reading so I thought perhaps you were studying it or were interested in it."
Considering she read one of the many books on robotics nearly every day, it didn't really narrow down the timeframe. And it was definitely suspicious since all of them had book covers to keep the title from being seen. "Which book exactly?" she probed, though she was mindful of her tone. "And when was this?"
"It was the other week, when Ruby… dragged you out of the room to see Jaune after he woke up." She wasn't sure what to make of that pause, but given Fuuka's considerate personality she probably just didn't want to bring up that particular incident given how angry Weiss had been when they returned to the dorm much later. "I noticed that the book had fallen to the floor so I went to bring it back to your desk. I was curious about what you were studying so I took a look."
Weiss took a moment to recall how exactly the book ended up on the floor. When she did, she resisted the urge to palm her face or curse Ruby for startling her.
"I was surprised to see what it was about. Since you never said anything before, I didn't think you were interested in it."
"I…" Weiss paused. She really shouldn't have opened her mouth so soon since that left her less time to consider what she was going to say. Hopefully, Fuuka's Persona's abilities did not extent to detecting half-truths and half-lies. Or even just a lie, in general. "I was hoping to surprise you."
Fuuka blinked. Then blinked again. "Sur… prise me?"
Weiss nodded. "I remember you mentioning that neither you nor even Aigis were knowledgeable in this particular field, even though it is Aigis's own body. Ruby's specialty is weaponry, which might extend to Aigis's actual body, but not the programming inside. So I decided to help in my own way."
"My older sister, Winter, is a Specialist in the Atlesian military. In case you didn't know, a Specialist is what they call those in the military who graduated from a Huntsman Academy," she explained with more than a bit of pride. It was her sister after all. "Since Atlas boasts an entire army of androids, I thought about introducing you to her and, through her, someone in the military who could help you."
"But I realized that they would most likely do a background check on you before they even considered helping you. Given where you are from, that wouldn't end in your favor. But as the Schnee heiress and Winter's sister, it would be easier if they only thought they would be helping me." Left unsaid was the fact that they knew she was doing this to help someone, even though all they knew about said 'someone' was that they were Weiss's teammate.
By now, Fuuka's eyes were wide in awe and wonder. And when she spoke, her eyes traveled to the shelf above the heiress's desk, her voice filled with that same awe. "So you… you decided to study all of that by yourself?" 'That' referred to the books that were neatly arranged on the shelf above Weiss's desk. About a third of them had the same book cover as the one on the desk, which was most likely how Fuuka realized their contents. "For us?"
Weiss just nodded, but inwardly was a little surprised at how quickly the teal-haired girl realized that all those books were about the same topic. "Why else would I study this?"
"Th-thank you! But… are you sure?" Wide green-blue eyes turned back to face her, awe and gratitude giving way to concern. "Isn't it difficult studying all this on top of your regular studies?"
The heiress just scoffed at that notion. "Not that she's a complete dolt, but if it were Ruby then yes, it would be. For me, however, this is nothing. As I said, I was hoping to surprise you both at a later time when I learned more. But since you've already found out about it, I suppose we could both progress faster if we worked together."
"Oh, that would be wonderful! Thank you Weiss." Fuuka gave her a fairly low bow. "I promise, I'll make it up to you."
"Don't worry about it. We're… teammates aren't we?" She wasn't entirely sure why she paused. Hopefully Fuuka wouldn't question it as she would have no answer to give. "Here."
Weiss rose from her seat and stood on her toes to pull down some of the books from the shelf, inwardly cursing her less than ideal stature. Since she was already wearing heels, rising up to her toes didn't add much more to her current height but it was enough for her fingers to slip between the books and pull out the first few on the right.
"I don't know how much you already know, considering the way you started learning, but these books should help you get started on the basics." She set the books down on the desk in a neat stack as she pulled them off the shelf. "Though I suspect that between you and Aigis it won't take long before you catch up to me. At least in terms of formal knowledge. I'm fairly certain you're both ahead of me in terms of practical knowledge."
Again, Fuuka's eyes widened. Only this time, it wasn't in awe but rather remembrance. "Oh, that's right. I should go wake Aigis and let her know."
Weiss nodded and sat back down after pulling out the necessary books. "You do that."
Blue eyes followed the petite girl – a thought that would never cease to bring her joy even though they were more or less the same height and build – as she went to wake her partner from her inactive state. Revealing her newfound knowledge had certainly happened sooner than she expected, but perhaps this way she would find her answers sooner as well. After that… well…
She'd cross that bridge when she came to it.
A redhead sitting in front of one of the library's many terminals leaned back into her seat, shutting the notebook on the desk in front of her with a satisfied sigh. Next to her, her black-haired companion watched with a sense of satisfaction equal to, perhaps even greater than, what the redhead was feeling.
Mitsuru and Blake have been spending several hours each week on their faunus research ever since the former requested the latter's help nearly two months ago. Since then, Blake had brought Mitsuru various reference materials on the subject. Some came from Beacon's library, others were books that belonged to Blake, and a few were some that Mitsuru bought on Blake's recommendation.
The latter two were, in Mitsuru's opinion, the more valuable sources of information.
Most of those books were written by faunus and were intended to help their fellow faunus understand their waning culture better. And as sad as it was, the culture truly was beginning to fade when it came to a lot of faunus.
It was fairly well-known that Menagerie, the large landmass to the southeast, was inhabited strictly by faunus. For a multitude of reasons, not all of them discriminatory in nature, very few humans ever set foot on that island, let alone choose to live there.
Blake once explained that life in Menagerie was fairly difficult. Despite its size, most of the island was uninhabitable. A desert that was harsher and far more dangerous than Vacuo's on the western end of the continent of Sanus. And so, all the faunus living there had to live in a relatively small corner of the island. It was cramped, but necessity had driven them all to live a highly cooperative lifestyle in order to survive.
Despite having an island of their own, the majority of the faunus population still lived on the other continents. One of the main reasons was that Menagerie couldn't hold all the faunus. Not without venturing into dangerous territory that they would not be able to defend.
Various other reasons existed, of course. There were those who wanted to try bridging the gap between humans and faunus. The younger generation were unwilling to remain on a, relatively, tiny island. Some were willing to brave the discrimination if it meant going out into a bigger world. Some did it specifically to show that discrimination wouldn't cow them into submission. Others had little choice, having no way to travel to Menagerie. Even if they did, many of the older faunus were aware that life there was not necessarily better just because they were amongst other faunus.
But much of the younger generation, those who have never set foot on Menagerie's soil, knew little of the faunus community in the southeast. And it was for them that the books had been written.
Faunus culture was slowly dying. That was a fact that Mitsuru had come to realize at some point in her research. And if even she, a human, could realize that, then there was no doubt in her mind that the faunus, at least those that cared, realized it as well.
Perhaps it was simply the test of time. After all, many traditions have either changed or have been lost over the centuries and millennia. This may very well be a time when certain cultures and traditions are tested by the changes the world is experiencing.
Or perhaps it was the possibility that many no longer cared to preserve their own traditions for a multitude of reasons, such as wanting to avoid discrimination. And if faunus culture made them a target of such acts, then perhaps adopting the culture of humans would, at the very least, lessen such discrimination. If they could show that they, too, could do as the humans do, then perhaps humans would start to see them more as equals.
It wasn't necessarily wrong, but every plan had its ups and downs, its costs and rewards. It was only a matter of each person's preferences whether the cost of an act was worth the possible payout. Like most things in life, such things were a gamble. The only difference was whether the odds were for you or against you.
But the true treasure of the books that Blake had recommended, however, were the books on faunus culture written by humans. Given the discrimination, it was surprising to Mitsuru that Blake not only owned a few such books, but that she had been able to procure a few others with relative ease. Mitsuru had offered to pay for the additional, just like every other time Blake returned with a new book for her research, but Blake declined, just like every other time.
"I would have bought them anyway if I came across them at some point. Looking for them to help with your research just made me buy them sooner."
The books revealed nothing new about faunus culture that she had not already seen in the faunus-authored books. That was a given, since the books were written by humans and, as a result, was understandably less detailed. What Mitsuru placed more value on, however, was how the authors perceived faunus culture. It went a long way in helping her understand how faunus culture was perceived by those who have learned of it.
As expected, faunus culture was received differently.
Some books were written by those wishing to co-exist, hoping that showing how the faunus were just as cultured as humans, albeit in a different manner, would slowly close the gap by bringing about understanding. Some wanted to reveal just how 'uncivilized' faunus were by pointing out how unhuman-like their culture was. Or how beast-like they were. Two of the eight books were completely neutral, simply stating the facts as well as they could without judgment.
Further research showed that, asides from the books that denounced faunus culture, the rest were banned not long after they were published. Those responsible for writing and publishing them were censured for attempting to spread falsehoods. After all, there was simply no way that beasts could have a 'proper' and 'civilized' culture.
"So what will you do will all of this?" Blake asked, waving a hand to the notebook on the table. It was one of three notebooks that Mitsuru had filled with notes on their research. The other two were next to the books they had been going over just a few minutes ago.
When Mitsuru had completely filled up the first one after two weeks, Blake had eyed her with disbelief and doubt. They had only just begun and yet one had already been filled out? Upon opening it, however, Blake found every inch filled with neat and organized notes. It was also filled with specific questions regarding certain topics. Questions that would later be answered as they delved deeper into faunus culture. The second notebook was much the same, though the notes were accompanied by less questions and supposition.
It was only the third, the one Mitsuru had just closed, that contained strictly information with no additional questions, hypotheses, theories, and whatnot. She didn't think it was possible to go over an entire race's culture in less than two months, especially since they only spent a few hours each week working on it. Mitsuru proved that something did not need to be relevant to their schooling for her to diligently study it.
There were still some specific details that were missing, however, such as those that differed between different types of faunus, but that would require speaking with actual faunus. While she had some idea of how some kinds of faunus behaved that differed from the rest, it would be best to avoid speaking of things she was not entirely certain of. That, and it would seem strange for her to know of such things when Mitsuru still saw her as just a faunus-sympathizing human.
Perhaps she could point out to Mitsuru that Yukari was friends with Velvet.
"For now, nothing." While she had been expecting it, Blake still couldn't help the deep pang of disappointment that she felt at those words. "At most, I can make copies of my notes and share them with our friends. Beyond that, however, I do not have any means by which I can bring about change on a significant scale."
Then, as though noticing her disappointment, Mitsuru turned to her with a smile. "Even so, nothing can be built without a proper foundation. If we, ourselves, are unwilling to learn, grow, and change, then we have little hope of enlightening others to the truth. Though I'm quite confident our friends will not be difficult to convince that faunus are just as cultured and civil as humans."
'Except for one,' Blake thought but refused to say out loud. Still, Mitsuru's easy acceptance of faunus made Blake wonder, once again, if she should reveal herself to her team leader and, hopefully, friend.
All things told, she was less apprehensive about it now compared to when she first chose to help Mitsuru. Yang already knew and had no qualms about it, though Blake was a little wary, perhaps paranoid, that she would tell someone, namely Ruby. Mitsuru was clearly an advocate of equality between faunus and humans. And Yukari openly defended Velvet, a faunus, against Cardin and his team.
The only question now was whether or not Mitsuru would expect her to tell everyone else now that she had found the courage to tell her team. She already felt bad about making Yang keep secrets from her sister. She didn't want to make her whole team keep secrets from their friends.
Perhaps if Blake had only grown close to her own team, then she would have no such reservations about asking them to keep her heritage a secret. Unfortunately, things weren't so easy.
She had befriended Chidori and, to an extent, Aigis through her Field Medicine class, and Junpei through Chidori whenever the carefree boy joined their study sessions. Through the Stealth and Recon class, she had gotten to know Ren. Out of curiosity, she had asked him about Ken and learned that, despite his age, he was very studious and surprisingly mature. A few conversations also passed on some things about Nora and their many years of friendship. Through Yang, she got to know Ruby, the blonde's socially awkward half-sister. And through her, Blake learned that Fuuka was working hard to study Aigis in order to become a proper technician for the blonde android.
Before she realized it, she had befriended at least one person from each team and had gotten to know more about the others through those newfound friends. It wouldn't feel right if she were to tell her team but not her new friends. Yang finding out was an accident so it didn't count.
If she asked them to, she was fairly certain they would keep it a secret from the rest of their team. The only exception, however, would be Ren. She was quite ambivalent with regards to his orange-haired childhood friend, but Blake didn't know if she could trust her to keep a secret.
She glanced down at the notebook at the table. Then again, did she really want to keep it a secret from everyone?
Like Mitsuru just said, they had to start small and they had to start with themselves. If she couldn't even be honest with her friends, then what hope did she have of bringing equality between faunus and humans the world over?
As Mitsuru began gathering up the books they used, Blake took a deep breath to steady herself. "Mitsuru?" The redhead paused her task and turned to her teammate with a quiet hum. "There's something I need to-"
"Mitsuru." Blake was interrupted by a familiar voice coming from behind her. Turning around, she found Akihiko approaching them, his fingers holding onto a few sheets of paper. Before either girl could say anything, the silver-haired teen held the papers out to the redhead. "Here's the list you asked me to make along with a couple of good places."
As though sensing something in his tone that she couldn't, Mitsuru took the papers wordlessly and began reading whatever was written on it, her eyes repeatedly moving from left to right at a rapid pace. "I see," she said, just as her voice dropped to a lower volume.
She addressed Mitsuru just as she folded the papers and slipped them into the satchel on the table. "What is it?" Mitsuru also put away her notebook and began packing away the books.
"Since today's testing was unexpectedly cancelled, I asked Akihiko compile a list of things we needed for the house since he went there yesterday and the previous week." Mitsuru's response was calm though the act of packing her belongings were slightly rushed. "While the basics are there, many things are still missing such as kitchen appliances, cookware, spare beddings, and other similar things."
"I take it you're going to get them now?"
"Once I drop off these books at the dorm, yes, that was the plan. You're more than welcome to join us if you want." Despite the invitation, Blake chose to decline as she helped Mitsuru by gathering together the books that belonged to the library.
Once she was done packing the books that belonged to them, Mitsuru picked up the satchel by the handle, rather than slinging the strap over her shoulder. Mitsuru had already half-turned to the exit when she suddenly paused and turned her gaze back to her teammate. "Ah, before we leave, what was it you were about to say earlier?"
Blake paused for a moment to think then shook her head. "It's nothing important. I can tell you later when you get back."
The redhead nodded in response. "Alright. If anyone needs me, please let them know that Akihiko and I went to Vale for the day. We should be back before dinner but they can send me a message or call me if it's urgent."
"I will. Take care." Blake waved farewell as the two older teens left, their gait relaxed but slightly rushed, much like Mitsuru had been when she packed the books away. Once they were out of sight, Blake waited just a bit longer before taking a deep breath, and letting out a long, weary sigh. Her forehead meeting the table with a loud thud next to the small pile of library books.
Just when she had mustered up the courage to confess her secret too. Provided her courage doesn't desert her entirely by then, she'd try her luck later that night.
Sadly, it wasn't to be. But rather than her courage, it was her luck that deserted her.
She had started reading a novel to keep herself relaxed rather than worrying over her decision. But so engrossed was she over the book that she hadn't noticed the multitude of messages her Scroll was alerting her to. It was only during dinner that she remembered, courtesy of Chidori, that they had agreed to go over the next day's readings for their Field Medicine class.
With the class taking place first thing tomorrow morning, Blake had returned to the dorm swiftly to finish the second half of the assigned readings. Given how quickly they were moving through the subjects, even just that second half took her a few hours to finish. And rushing through it all had tired her out mentally.
By the time Mitsuru returned that night, at a little before half-past nine despite having said that she and Akihiko would return before dinner, Blake was already fast asleep.
November 2, XX13
"Who here can name all the varieties of Grimm found in the areas around the City of Vale?"
A handful of hands rose at the question posed to them by Professor Port. Seeing the confident looks on their faces, however, the academy's oldest teacher decided to go down a different route. "Ms. Xiao Long."
"Huh?" Yang looked up from her notebook, which she had been filling with useless scribbles and doodles, upon hearing her name. It took a moment for her to remember where she was, and another to realize who had addressed her. "Oh, sorry Professor. Could you repeat that? I didn't quite hear what you said."
She would have been surprised if he had actually bought her excuse. Instead, the shaking of his head in disappointment was pretty much what she expected to receive in response. And now he would give her a bit of a scolding, remind her to pay attention, and look for his next victim.
"Please name all of the varieties of Grimm found in the areas around the City of Vale."
Or he could go down the 'let's humiliate the student who wasn't paying attention' route. Too bad for him that the question was quite an easy one. "Beowolves, Ursai, Creeps, Nevermores, Stalkers, Taijitu, and Goliaths."
"Well, it's good to see you've kept up with your studies." She almost scoffed in response. That question had been way too easy. History and Geography was one thing, but Grimm Studies? No self-respecting trainee, especially one who grew up on the nearby island of Patch, wouldn't know something that simple about the things they were training to fight against. "But clearly you need to pay more attention to the class itself rather than the book."
Before she could even question him, his attention had already turned to the person sitting next to her. "Ms. Belladonna, would you care to complete the list your partner has already given us?"
Blake responded without a pause. "While rare, Griffins have been known to approach the city. Though given the distance of their nesting areas from the city, it would take a large concentration of negativity to draw them towards the city, such as the tragedy of Mountain Glenn."
"Correct."
Yang resisted the urge to growl. So she had missed one, big deal. Like Blake said, Griffins were an incredibly rare sight so close to the city. That particular species of Grimm nested high in the mountains far to the south of Vale. It would take something incredibly tragic to draw them in from that far away. That or something incredibly stupid.
She sighed and slumped down in her seat, tuning out another of the portly professor's – that was a good one to try next time she had the chance – autobiographical ramblings. As she did, Yang wondered, once again, what was wrong with her.
These days, it wasn't just Yukari or reminders of the brunette that set her off. Things that would normally just be a minor irritation set of a fire rather than a spark. Twice today, thrice if she included the incident just now, she had nearly growled out loud for things she would normally shrug off and forget within the next two minutes.
Not everything that irritated her was amplified, however, which was a good thing. Otherwise the sheer number of them probably would have caused her to explode days ago.
Lately, she wasn't even sure if her growing anger had anything to do at all with Yukari. Sure, it might have started with her but that might have just been because of that conversation they had outside the restaurant. For all she knew, she would still be facing the same problem even if Yukari hadn't spoken to her that time. The only difference might have been who or what would set off her anger first.
She knew she wasn't getting angry for no reason at all. She didn't know how she knew that for certain, she just did. She just needed to find a pattern or sorts. That's what the police did in those TV shows, right? Look for a pattern that the criminal, her anger in this case, was leaving behind and you'd be able to tell when or where they would strike next. In her case, finding out that pattern would also tell her why she had been getting angry at seemingly random moments.
At least, that's what she hoped she would discover.
She flipped the pages of her notebook until she got to the second-to-the-last page. On that page was a list of sorts. And at the bottom, she added another line. 'Grimm Studies.' Below it, she wrote a brief description of what had just taken place.
She glanced up at the portly man – she was definitely going to try that one out before the day was over – then back down to her notebook once she was sure he wasn't looking her way. So far, none of the incidents had taken place at any specific location. None of the people, save for Yukari during those first few days and that wasn't always because of her physical presence, were consistently involved. Not even the time of day held any consistency.
But she wasn't just lashing out. She knew she wasn't. If it was that erratic, then wouldn't she be getting mad even when nothing happened?
The bell rang, signaling the end of the class. Even as Professor Port bid them all farewell, throwing in a reminder to read about one topic or another, all the students began gathering their belongings and rising from their seats.
Yang did the same and joined her team, putting on a smile as they departed for the dining hall. All the while, her mind was one the list sitting inside her back. There had to be a reason for all this. There just had to be. And she was going to find it.
One way or another.
Forty pairs of eyes locked onto the blonde professor down in the combat area, their voices silenced as the bell rang to signal the beginning of their class. "This week will be the last one wherein you will be expected to fight alongside your partners." Her announcement brought out some quiet but excited murmurs. "Beginning next week, you will be paired with one of your other teammates rather than your partner."
The murmurs rose in volume, but not enough to be considered disruptive. Only this time, there was a notable air of confusion. Glynda hid a grin, knowing that their confusion would soon turn into something else. "In addition, rather than fighting against a random pair, you will be facing your partner as well as the final member of your team."
Murmurs turned into loud exclamations of shock, and Glynda took a small amount of pleasure in seeing the chaos she had caused. The one-on-one matches had avoided having a student face their teammates. The two-on-two matches they were currently doing also did not pit a partnered pair against their teammates. None of the students could have expected that they would soon be fighting against their own team.
More importantly, they would be fighting against their own partner. A partner whom they had been training with for the past two months. Training that had most likely intensified in the face of their two-on-two matches, in order to perform better as a pair. And now she had just forced all the students into a match where they would be fighting against someone who was intimately familiar with how they fought.
Stern green eyes glanced around the room, taking in the expressions of each student as they briefly spoke with their team. Many were still confused, but the majority had mixed reactions. Some were excited. Others, like Jaune Arc, were understandably despondent given who his partner was. Surprisingly, however, there were several who looked contemplative.
It wasn't unexpected that someone would work out the purpose behind having someone fight their partner. The nine she counted, however, was a new record as far as Glynda was concerned. And most of them belonged to the same group of friends.
It took her a while to get the class to settle down. It always did whenever she made this announcement. When she did, she called down the first pair she had scheduled to fight for the day. "Blaise Argo and Lianna Kross. And Ruby Rose and Weiss Schnee."
As the four she had called down made their way to the combat area, the other students went back to talking about her prior announcement.
It was, after all, no small matter. Not only had they been training alongside their partner this past month, whether in class or on their own, but they had also been training against their teammates. Few teams would ever consider fighting alongside someone other than their partner.
They may form temporary partnerships during a fight if they fought as a whole team against another team, but few would ever dedicate an extended amount of time training with someone who wasn't their partner. During their first year at Beacon at least. It was a much more common way of training later on once they realized the necessity of learning how to fight alongside their other teammates just as well as they do with their partners.
'After all,' thought Glynda, watching as the two pairs she had called down took their places on the combat platform. 'No one can ever fully predict the conditions of an upcoming fight.'
"Hey Weiss? Me and Yang were thinking of going to the arcade this weekend with Nora and Junpei. Do you… uh… wanna come with us?"
Pale, slim fingers stopped short of her locker as an irritated sigh left Weiss's lips. Bad enough that she and Ruby lost their match because the girl couldn't properly coordinate her attacks with that unwieldy scythe of hers, but now she even had the gall to approach her as though she had done nothing wrong.
To make things worse, the girl had even blamed things on her. Her. Ruby had been the one to suddenly switch targets even though she had been the one to pick her target in the first place. Ruby had been the one to knock Weiss's target away AFTER Weiss executed her attack, not only knocking Blaise out of the line of fire but also causing the stream of fire to land squarely on Ruby. Ruby had been the one to switch opponents without letting Weiss know, leading to Weiss being attack from behind by Lianna, Ruby's original opponent.
Ruby had been the one to cost them what should have been an easy match. And yet she blamed Weiss for hitting her with friendly fire and getting ambushed. It was a sore reminder of the events of initiation where the two of them could have easily fought off a small pack of Beowolves.
She turned around, stern, ice blue eyes meeting hopeful silver. Hope which slowly faded upon seeing the expression on the Schnee heiress's face. "You've asked me similar questions at least once a week for the past few weeks now. What makes you think I'll answer differently today?"
"Um… Well… I was…"
Weiss groaned audibly at her partner's timidity, though she resisted the urge to palm her face. Skilled though she may be in combat, Ruby was completely socially inept and her intelligence was questionable in some regards. Her inability to understand that Weiss wanted little to do with her beyond the necessities of school was merely evidence of her observations.
Her groan had silenced the silver-eyed girl, and she bowed her head down in shame, her eyes looking away from the heiress. "Let me make things clear, Ruby. And I suggest you listen well because I will only say this once," she stated firmly, crossing her arms and straightening her posture, making her look even taller as Ruby huddled down on herself. It gave her no small amount of pleasure seeing Ruby, who was taller than her when they both went barefoot, look so small.
"I am here to learn how to be a Huntress. I am not here to make friends. And I couldn't care less what you do in your spare time so long as you don't drag us down, either as partners or as a team." Each statement made Ruby cringe, slightly curling up even more as though trying to hide. "If you want to go off gallivanting, wasting your precious time on useless pursuits when you could be studying to better yourself, then be my guest. But leave. Me. Out of it."
Weiss leaned forward, looming over the lightly shivering Ruby and glaring down at her. "Do I make myself clear?"
Unable to find her voice, Ruby nodded hastily several times, looking like some sort of broken puppet being shaking around. Satisfied that she had made her point, Weiss huffed, straightened up, and walked away, leaving the dejected and petrified girl behind.
"Honestly," Weiss muttered under her breath as she walked past several rows of lockers. "That girl can be so-" She abruptly stopped just a few steps away from the exit when she felt something tapping against her thigh. Looking down, her suspicions were confirmed when she saw Myrtenaster still hanging from her waist. Because of Ruby's interruption, she had completely forgotten to replace it inside the locker.
Should she turn back and return it? Or should she just come back later? No, she had to turn back. It would just be a waste of time if she went to dinner now and then came back later on just to put Myrtenaster in the locker. 'Besides,' she thought as she turned around and went down the aisle next to the one she had just come from. 'I can just wait for Ruby to leave then put Myrtenaster back. She's probably on her way out already.'
With that thought in mind, Weiss made sure to be extra attentive whenever she walked past a gap in the rows of lockers. All it would take was for Ruby to catch her out of the corner of their eyes and she would be seen. It might not matter much if the others saw her, but she didn't want to see Ruby so soon, especially not after the scolding she gave her. Her patience had run out as it is and it wouldn't do for her to blow her top in public.
Eventually, she reached the area where her team's lockers were located. Hearing voices coming from that area, she continued to walk past the periodic gap between each row of lockers, circling around so that her locked would be between her and the exit. That way, whoever was there would be less likely to spot her. She made to peek around the corner to check who was present, but a familiar voice reached her ears before she could.
"-nted to be her friend."
Weiss held in the growl that nearly slipped past her lips as she recognized the voice. 'Ruby.' The younger girl was clearly dejected if her tone of voice was any indication. At least the lack of sniffling and such was evidence that she wasn't upset enough to cry over it. That would have lowered her opinion of the girl even further, if such a thing was even possible.
Regardless, her still being there would mean that Weiss would have to wait a bit longer than expected before she could deposit Myrtenaster into her locker. And that thought was only reinforced by what she heard next.
"What exactly did she say?"
'Fuuka.' The heiress repressed the sigh that bubbled up within her. If she was going to speak with Ruby, then the two of them wouldn't be leaving anytime soon. That brought up her earlier question. Did she leave and return later? Or did she wait it out?
Fuuka had just gotten to her locker when Ruby asked her a question. "Hey, Fuuka? You're friends with everyone on SEES, right?" Fuuka felt that was a bit of a strange question to ask, especially for Ruby, but she nodded in response all the same. "So… what am I doing wrong?"
"Huh? What do you mean?"
Fuuka watched as Ruby turned her back to her locker and leaned back against it. Then, slowly, she slid down until she was sitting on the floor, her arms wrapped dejectedly around her knees. "I think Weiss hates me."
Now, Fuuka wasn't entirely sure where that belief was coming from but looking back on Ruby and Weiss's interactions, she felt she had a good idea. She placed Ancile in her locker, shut it, and took a seat on the floor next to Ruby. "Ruby, I don't think she hates you."
"Then why is she always mad at me?" Fuuka could feel her heart breaking at Ruby's downtrodden tone. "I know we didn't exactly start off on the right foot back before we became partners but it's not like I meant anything bad. And now she… I just wanted to be her friend."
There was a big chunk of missing information there. And while she didn't want to pry, the only way she could help Ruby was if she was more informed of the situation. But she wouldn't force Ruby to speak about it if she didn't want to. "What exactly did she say?" she asked, her tone soft.
She listened carefully as Ruby recounted the events of just a few minutes prior, having taken place while Fuuka was speaking with Aigis earlier. Taking that event, and adding past events into the consideration, Fuuka now had a better picture of the issue at hand.
Unfortunately, she wasn't sure that Ruby would like the answer.
"Do you really have to be friends with Weiss?" Ruby's head snapped up at those words so quickly that Fuuka was almost certain she had used her Semblance, if not for the absence of rose petals. More telling was the expression of shock on the younger girl's face. "People can live and work together for years but never become friends. Weiss did say that that was what she wanted, right?"
"But… we're partners." It was clear that Ruby never considered the possibility of not being friends with her partner. "We didn't exactly choose one another but… still!"
Fuuka smiled sadly and slid closer to Ruby, close enough to wrap an arm around the younger girl's shoulders and gently pull her closer. She felt Ruby tense up for a moment before relaxing. "Did you know that Chidori-chan was part of another group before she joined SEES?" She felt Ruby shake her head.
No, of course Ruby wouldn't know. Chidori's past was pretty much the only one still mostly unknown to the rest of the group. "She was with them for many years but even though they lived together and worked towards the same goal, she couldn't claim to call them proper friends. Close acquaintances, maybe, but not really friends."
"And she was fine with that?" Ruby's voice sounded small, weak. Once again, it showed just how young she was. And how much of the world she had yet to experience.
Fuuka nodded, having heard the answer straight from Chidori herself prior to coming to Vale and Beacon. "At that time, none of them really cared or wanted to be friends with one another. It was enough that they understood one another enough that they could live and work well together. In fact," she added quickly, realizing something now that she failed to notice before. "They knew enough about one another that they could be called friends."
"Huh? But didn't you say that-"
"They knew each other, but they didn't really reach out to one another," Fuuka gently interrupted with an understanding smile. It was probably a hard concept for the younger girl to understand. "Being friends is more than just knowing each other, or spending time with one another. Or even," she giggled as a thought came to her. "Or even getting along with each other."
"Huh?"
"Look at Yukari-chan and Junpei-kun," she pointed out. "The two of them argue a lot but they're still friends. Akihiko-senpai and Mitsuru-senpai don't talk to each other about small things like movies and hobbies, but they're still friends. Nora does things that Ren often scolds her for but neither of them hate the other for it. And one of my best friends outside of SEES back then, Natsuki-chan, actually used to bully me."
"Wait, what?"
Fuuka had to resist the urge to laugh at the expression of absolute confusion on Ruby's face. The girl was being bombarded by so many things that broke her understanding of the word 'friend' that she probably thought they were talking about two completely different things by now.
"I guess what I'm trying to say is that there are different kinds of friends, just like there are different kinds of people. I'm not saying you and Weiss can never become friends, but you also have to respect what she wants. If you keep pushing even when she doesn't want to be friends, then things will just become worse." Quickly thinking of an alternative, Fuuka said, "Why not try to be her partner first?"
"What do you mean? Aren't we already partners? Then again…" Ruby let out a dejected sigh. "I don't think Weiss thinks I'm a good partner. Or that I can actually do this. But… Sure I'm not that smart but I haven't failed a single class yet, right? Professor Ozpin let me take the initiation and I passed, so I'm not weak, right? So what else am I missing? What else can I do to show Weiss that I can actually do this?"
"Officially, yes. But…" Fuuka searched for the best way to deliver her message without hurting the young girl further. The problem was clearly deeper than she fight thought. Fuuka wanted to ask for advice, maybe from Mitsuru, but she felt that leaving now, even with a promise to continue later, would end badly.
She would just have to try her best. "Let's take the fight earlier. What went wrong?"
Ruby's answer was almost immediate. "Everything was fine until Weiss hit me with her Dust and then she wasn't paying attention and got hit from behind. Then she started yelling at me and-"
Fuuka gently squeezed Ruby's shoulder, calming her down and interrupting her at the same time. Once she felt the tension leave the girl's shoulders, she spoke again in that same gentle tone. "Did you try thinking about how Weiss might have seen it?"
"How Weiss might have seen it?" Ruby repeated, humming in confusion.
"Let's start from the start of the fight. Why did you go after Blaise when the fight started?"
"That's because Crescent Rose would be better against her." It was times like these that Fuuka saw that Ruby was just as qualified as the rest of them. "She uses a staff so our range is about the same but my scythe can get around her weapon easily. Lianna uses bladed gauntlets so it would be harder for me to fight if she got too close."
"Then why did you suddenly attack her?"
"Well…" She felt Ruby squirming uncomfortably. "I thought I knocked Blaise out of the ring. So I thought I'd help Weiss. But then she attacked me after I hit Lianna out of the way and-"
Again, Fuuka squeezed Ruby's shoulder, not letting the girl work herself up again. "Did Weiss know?"
"Know what?"
"That you were going to help her?" clarified Fuuka. Ruby shook her head. "I don't think you saw it, but Weiss had already used her Dust even before you jumped in. Weiss didn't mean to attack you, but when you knocked Lianna out of the way, you ended up taking her place."
"O~oh…" Now Ruby was realizing her mistake. "Uh… oops?"
Fuuka could almost see the sheepish grin on Ruby's face. "And because Weiss didn't know you were trying to help her, and because she got hit by Blaise from behind since she didn't actually get knocked out of the ring, Weiss probably felt that you weren't thinking about what you were doing."
"But I…" Ruby began to argue but deflated almost instantly. "Yeah, I guess I didn't really think it through."
Fuuka laughed good-naturedly. "I can't really tell you what you should do to make things better, but maybe you should try to consider what Weiss wants, instead of thinking that what you want is also what she wants." Ruby did her best to crane her head to look up to Fuuka's face. "Weiss strikes me as a very private person. It's why Aigis and I don't bother her when she's busy."
"She's always studying though," Ruby pointed out. "I just thought she'd want to go do something to relax or something."
"Maybe she finds studying to be relaxing." What little Fuuka could see of Ruby's face told her what the younger girl thought of that idea. "Still, I think you just need to be more considerate of her feelings. You and Weiss are two different people. What you like, what you do, how you do things, almost everything about the two of you could be different. It's hard, finding something that two very different people have in common. But I think you should start there."
"But what if-" A rumbling growl interrupted her words, and Fuuka could see the blush that appeared, colored like the girl's namesake.
A quite giggle broke the silence that settled upon them, though Ruby just huddled down on herself further out of embarrassment. "Maybe we should continue later," offered Fuuka, slowly pushing herself up to her feet and helping Ruby stand. "Besides, I think there are better places to talk about this than here."
Looking around, Ruby could only agree. The floor of the locker room was definitely a strange place to hold the conversation they just did. When Fuuka made to leave, Ruby felt herself move without thinking, suddenly wrapping her arms around the older girl from behind.
Now that they were standing, Ruby could feel just how small Fuuka really was. It was a… strange experience, to say the least. She had known since the beginning that Fuuka was shorter than her. Both Nora and Weiss, when the latter had her heels off, were also shorter than Ruby.
It was weird embracing someone she had come to depend on when that person was smaller than her. She was used to hugging Yang, her father, or even her uncle whenever they comforted her or gave her advice. But Fuuka?
It felt strange, but familiar all the same. There was just something about the teal-haired girl that made her seem larger in Ruby's eyes. Stronger and dependable like her sister, father, and uncle. Even now, though the older girl in her arms was obviously shorter and thinner than her, she kept expecting to blink and find that she was just imagining things, that Fuuka was actually the taller girl between the two of them.
Or maybe for Fuuka to suddenly have a three-second growth spurt then and there.
She couldn't say she understood everything that Fuuka had just tried to tell her, but Ruby was grateful all the same. More importantly, she was grateful, now more than ever, to be on the same team as her.
"Thank you, Fuuka."
"You're welcome, Ruby."
November 3, XX13
In a move that broke their weekly Wednesday night gathering, SEES gathered on the roof of the dorm that Tuesday night. The more observant members of their teams took note of this. Even voiced it in some cases. While no explanations were given, none of them were turned away when asked if they could join. Unspoken was the fact that they may not receive an answer to their similarly unspoken questions.
Out of their eight teammates, Ruby had her Advanced Weapons Designing class while Blake wasn't curious enough to join them. Ren would have stayed behind as well if not for Nora wanting to go. As such, six people accompanied the Japanese teens up to the roof.
And it was there that six teens, an android, and a dog sat or stood near a corner of the roof. Some stared straight ahead, others turned their head to the side in the same direction, but all of them had their gazes locked onto the full moon across the horizon with an indescribable emotion glossing their eyes. The group's eighth human member stood next to her boyfriend, looking as bored and disinterested as she usually did as she observed the others. The remaining six teens watched in curiosity, each one wondering what sort of memory their friends were reliving.
Yes. A memory.
They had long since gotten used to seeing their friends in their current state. Eyes glossed over and unfocused, looking at something that was no longer there, watching a scene that was not taking place at that very moment.
Sometimes they had smiles on their faces, soft, nostalgic, even regretful. Nonetheless, they were smiles. Other times they were despondent, the memory bringing more sadness and pain than anything else. The latter never lasted long as the members of SEES were well aware that wallowing in such memories for too long would do them no good.
Regardless, it was a sight they had grown accustomed to. Sometimes they would inquire as to what they were remembering. Other times they would leave them to reminisce, patiently waiting until they were ready. With only Chidori not lost in memories of a time long gone, this was a case for the latter. Whatever it was they were remembering, it was something that had affected the rest of them deeply.
By now, all of them knew that Chidori was different from SEES. For one thing, she never wore a Gekkoukan uniform, which hinted that she had not attended that school with the others. Having seen her fellow redhead's wardrobe, Pyrrha could confirm that she did not own the uniform at all. Whether she had gotten rid of it at some point or simply never owned one in the first place was up for debate as nobody asked.
Another was that she admitted to being the newest member of SEES, having joined at a much later time even when compared to Ken, who had joined a little more than a year ago. She did mention, however, that she had been part of another group of Persona-users prior to joining SEES. Other details had been left out.
She also wasn't as close to the other members, with the obvious exception of Junpei. It was clear that she was friends with them, but they could see that she lacked the same closeness that the others shared. Even her closeness to Junpei could possibly be attributed to their relationship, rather than a close bond of friendship. Was it because she had joined them at a later date? Or was it something else?
During those few weeks of mourning that SEES had gone through, Chidori had been the least affected. She showed some sadness at the loss of life, but it was far from what one would consider grieving. It was almost as though she felt nothing for all those that had died. Like someone who understood the tragedy that had occurred but felt ambivalent towards it. It had been… disconcerting, to say the least, when some of them considered just what it meant for her to be so cold.
Not to say that she was heartless. Small displays of emotion, and some displays of affection towards Junpei, showed that she was not emotionally broken or disconnected. Still, it made one curious as to how she had kept such a calm face even when remembering such a tragedy. Even Aigis, Mitsuru, and Akihiko had broken down emotionally. Chidori alone remained stoic.
Last month had been the one-year anniversary of Shinjiro Aragaki's death. And though their grief and sadness had been for all those they had lost, it did not change the fact that their friend's death on that day had affected them all.
That they had all gathered together once more was further evidence of the fact that they were remembering some event that they had all been witness to, perhaps even as participants. What sort of event had taken place on this day the year before, they all wondered.
It had only been ten minutes since their gathering at the roof, ten minutes that seemed far longer than it truly was because of the solemnity of it all, before the silence was broken.
"Do any of you ever wonder how things would have been different had we not fought that night?" The voice that cut through the air was the regal tone of the leader of SEES, long crimson locks dancing in the night breeze. "If we had discovered the truth much sooner?"
The other members, save for Chidori, nodded but no verbal response came from any of them. Even Mitsuru hummed and nodded in turn, still lost in the sea of memories.
When the silence was once again broken, it was Aigis's slightly stiff and formal manner of speaking that greeted their ears. "I do not believe it was possible for us to make any other choice." If anyone was shocked by her words, none of it showed on their faces. But they could almost feel the way the mood in the vicinity dropped even further at her words. "Whether or not we killed it, the outcome would have been the same. It was only a matter of when it would all end."
Her words confused those who lacked the proper context to understand, but they could, at least, understand that something terrible had happened. And when Mitsuru spoke next, their thoughts were confirmed.
"But perhaps my father would still be alive."
They could see the way Aigis grew uncomfortable. It wasn't difficult to understand why. Mitsuru's father was a casualty of whatever event they were revisiting in their minds. By saying that the outcome would be the same regardless of their choice was the same as saying that he would have died either way. And while Mitsuru's tone held no malice, it did not mean that she could accept such an outcome so easily.
Then the discomfort faded from the blonde's face, replaced by sadness. "Yes. And perhaps even…" Her voice trailed away, her eyelids slowly sliding shut even though her face remained turned up towards the moon.
More than once, they wondered why SEES seems to be drawn to the moon. Every night that they came to the roof, there were always times when one or more of them would glance up at the moon and stare at it for a while. Even on nights when they did not, they would glance up at the moon regardless. Whether they were in the dorm room, or walking to or from their evening classes, they would always spare a moment to look up.
Someone, either Yang or Nora, perhaps even both, once joked that SEES were like the people in one of those stories where the full moon turned them into monsters or such. Or at least, were affected by the various phases of the moon in some way. Though SEES found the theory amusing, no one explained their habit of moon gazing.
Eventually, Yukari broke the somber silence, turning to the blonde. "Hey Aigis, how are the new clothes I got you? Do they fit well?"
The shift to a lighter topic broke the spell on them all, the mood lightening immediately as everyone delved into conversation with one another. Or not, in some cases.
Yang, Junpei, Jaune, and Nora were making plans to visit the arcade for some fun the coming weekend. Fuuka joined the conversation between Aigis and Yukari. Mitsuru sat on the ledge, still lost in thought but less tense than she had been earlier, with Chidori next to her, the redhead just as silent as the other.
Ren sat on the ledge as well, though a short distance away from the pair of silent redheads, with Ken taking the spot next to him and Koromaru sitting on his haunches between them. The black-haired boy kept an eye on his orange-haired friend and partner while the twelve-year-old gently ran his hand over the top of Koromaru's head, content to just relax after remembering the events of a year prior. Their team leader was off to the side, speaking with Pyrrha after the latter approached him.
With Mitsuru, the only one she wanted to speak with at that time, clearly not in the mood to converse, Weiss slipped away and returned to Team ASYR's room. Ruby still had an hour and a half of class, and Fuuka and Aigis never returned before midnight whenever they stayed on the roof. She still failed to understand the latter ritual, but this gave her some time to herself, a rarity in itself since she shared the room with three other people.
While Aigis and Fuuka respected her need for silence whenever she was busy, Ruby wasn't as quiet even when she was trying to be. The girl had learned early on that Weiss was not fond of overly loud noises, or even noise in general, and knew not to bother the heiress when she was studying.
However, the scythe-wielder was easily excitable, and that often led to the volume of her voice increasing, forgetting her unspoken agreement with Weiss. Sometimes she caught herself, silencing herself before Weiss could even turn around. Other times Weiss had to glare at the girl, perhaps even get her attention, before she realized her mistake. Thankfully, Fuuka had become aware of the situation and did her best to keep Ruby's excitement under control whenever Weiss was around.
At that point, Weiss released a heavy sigh. Thinking of Fuuka reminded her of what she had overheard the day before in the training building's locker room. The diminutive teal-haired girl hadn't sided with her or Ruby. Instead, she had simply provided a listening ear to the dejected girl and offered her some advice. Advice, Weiss noted, that benefited both parties.
She hadn't realized just how… considerate the Persona-user was. Certainly, she did her best not to disturb Weiss during her studies, independent or not, but to Weiss that was simply common sense. But looking back, she could see that Fuuka wasn't being polite for the sake of politeness. She was polite because it was simply how she was.
For all her confidence in her ability to read people, an ability born of her upbringing, she had utterly failed with regards to Fuuka. All because she had never once met someone who was so naturally polite and considerate. She had mistaken the older girl's actions as that of someone who was being polite because it was what society expected of her. Only now did she realize that, even if nobody cared if she were to curse every three words, Fuuka would be exactly the same as she was now.
Weiss went into the restroom with a change of clothes to prepare for the night. She stripped off her clothing, leaving her standing there in only in her underwear. When she went to deposit her clothing in the hamper, her eyes caught sight of the door leading to the bathing area.
That brought to mind one of Fuuka's habits that had confused her at the beginning. The need to shower at the end of the day rather than at the beginning. Listening in on the other teams' conversations revealed that all seven Japanese teens – Aigis didn't really count in her mind even though the blonde wiped herself off at night – did the same.
Weiss, like the others, bathed in the morning to freshen up for the day. The Japanese, however, bathed before retiring for the night so that they went to bed clean. Weiss had never considered it that way before. And that had been the simple explanation she overheard. The more detailed one was even more interesting.
Bathing or showering in the morning meant that they went about their day clean, accumulating sweat and dust as the day went on. Their clothes were discarded at the end of the day because they were, undoubtedly, dirty. Even if it was simply dust from the air, walking around would generate even a thin layer of perspiration, especially around certain body parts that were less ventilated, that would seep into their clothing. It was simply unhygienic to think of those clothes as 'clean'.
But then that left their bodies. They had Combat class five days each week, and each one of them fought at least twice in one week, they would perspire more during those times. Perspiration that would seep through their skin before being absorbed by their clothing. As such, their bodies were just as dirty as the clothes they wore. And all that would transfer to their nightclothes and their beds.
But the members of SEES did things the other way around. Because they bathed at the end of the day and went to sleep not long after, their bodies were clean and didn't soil their nightclothes and beddings. And when they woke up, they were just as clean.
It wasn't necessarily wrong, but their seemingly backwards routine had certainly confused her for quite a while. Still, that meant one less person showering in the morning in case they were ever in a hurry. No doubt Fuuka would be showering later on after they returned from the roof. Even if it had to be after midnight, Fuuka never failed to stick to her routine. No doubt the others were the same.
After brushing her teeth and finishing her own nightly routine, Weiss exited the restroom and nearly shrieked in surprise. Standing in front of her was the unclothed form of Aigis, her mechanical body parts bare for all to see, with a pale blue nightgown draped over one arm. And now that Weiss was without her heels, Aigis stood taller than her by a good few inches.
"Ah," came Aigis's soft exclamation, turning her eyes down and away. "I'm sorry. I did not mean to startle you. I was unaware that anyone else had returned."
Weiss held back a sigh of relief at those words, instead nodding curtly in response as she stepped around the android without a word. At least that eliminated the possibility that Aigis had followed her down from the roof. Still, that meant that her moment of solitude was now gone. Aigis would undoubtedly remain silent as the two of them did not get along very well, if at all in Weiss's mind, but her mere presence would prevent Weiss from relaxing completely.
The door to the restroom was shut with a soft click, the mechanical girl entering for her own nightly ritual. Strange as that may sound, Fuuka had reassured Ruby and Weiss that Aigis could safely submerged herself in water without risk of damage. Within certain limits of course.
Even so, Aigis didn't really shower like the rest of them. Instead, she simply wiped down her body with a damp cloth rather than showering. Her hair wasn't real and did not need to be washed like real hair, even if she did rinse it out with water every few days.
Now that her mind was on the android, Weiss had to wonder why she had come down early. She couldn't possibly be tired. Aigis herself had once explained that she could function for several days straight provided she did not have to fight since her Papillon Heart provided her with a slow but perpetual energy charge. Even if she fought a few times, she could go on for a few days as the most draining act for her was summoning and using her Persona.
No, she couldn't possibly be tired. But the fact that she had gone into the restroom with a change of clothes meant that she was preparing to sleep. So why had she come down early?
The door to the side clicked open once more and Aigis slipped out, wearing the long nightgown that she usually wore to bed. Ruby had once asked why Aigis wore it to bed. The response was as expected. It was in case someone who was unaware of her secret came into the room due to an emergency or anything of the sort. It was highly unlikely, but clearly they weren't taking any chances.
"Is there something I can help you with?"
It was only when Aigis spoke that Weiss realized she had been staring at the blonde since she exited the restroom. She considered just turning away but she remembered the events of the other day when Fuuka discovered her extracurricular studies. As distasteful as it may be, she would have to do her best to be civil to the android so as not to arouse her suspicion.
And since Aigis was a machine, the slightest but of suspicion may very well be enough to blow open her entire charade.
"It's nothing. I was just…" She paused, her thoughts running at full speed as she tried to think of an excuse. Fortunately, she had found one soon after. "I was just curious why you were down here so early. You usually stay up later than this whenever you all go up to the roof."
All of a sudden, Aigis turned away, looking ashamed of something. "I…" Weiss wondered just what it was she could be so ashamed of that it had caused her to leave her friends. "I do not deserve to be there with them. Not tonight."
Weiss could feel her eyebrows rise at those words. Could it have something to do with what they were thinking about earlier? No, that wasn't even a question she should have to ask. It went without saying that whatever it was Aigis was ashamed of, it was connected to the events of one year ago.
"Do you mind if I ask about what happened?" The words were out of her mouth before she realized it. She wondered what made her ask such a thing. She and Aigis were hardly friends. And though they were teammates, their relationship, at best, was that of acquaintances outside of any school-related activities. So where had such a personal question come from?
"I…" Again, Aigis hesitated, and Weiss could see her struggling with herself for some reason. She had never seen the blonde act this way before. What could have happened that she was so ashamed of? She was about to retract her query, not wanting to tread on something so personal, when the blonde spoke again, her voice softer, weaker, than any other time Weiss had heard her speak. "I betrayed them. A year ago tomorrow."
That… that was far from whatever scenario Weiss had imagined in her head. At worst, she thought that she had not performed well against whatever they had fought against the previous year. But betrayal? Was it even possible for her to betray someone? Surely her creators had not been so foolish as to not make her capable of such a thing. Or had they expected her to develop a form of loyalty on her own?
If so, then that was beyond foolish in Weiss's opinion. People could not be counted on to be absolutely loyal to someone other than themselves. If humans were capable of betrayal, then what made them think that a machine, one that they created to be as human-like as possible, wouldn't be the same unless specifically created to be completely loyal and obedient?
"I… see." An uncomfortable silence descended upon them, not that they had anything else left to say. She didn't know what else to say and Aigis didn't look like she was going to say anything else, not that Weiss wanted to know more. Well, she did, but it would hardly be appropriate for her to pry deeper into it. As it was, she shouldn't even have asked in the first place.
Eventually, Weiss walked forward, sharp eyes noticing the way Aigis tensed at her approach as though afraid of whatever judgement the heiress had in store for her. But the just walked past the blonde, her gaze aimed at her bed situated next to the bathroom door.
"I'm going to bed," she announced needlessly, perhaps simply to break the silence. If she wasn't going to be able to enjoy a moment to herself then sleep would be the next best thing.
"Ah. O-of course. I'm sorry."
"What are you sorry for?" Weiss almost asked. She swallowed the words at the last moment. She didn't need to know the blonde's reason nor did she truly want to. The question was just simple curiosity rather than a deep desire. Instead, she just nodded in acceptance even though Aigis was most likely looking away. "Switch off the lights," she ordered softly. Then, as an afterthought, added, "If you don't mind."
There was no response from the blonde, but Weiss heard the soft rustling of clothing from behind her. And just as she reached her bed, the lights went out. Even so, the room was still illuminated by the rays of moonlight coming through the windows, the full moon high above them shining down on a good third of the room.
She settled into her bed and closed her eyes, hearing only a brief rustling coming from the direction of Aigis's bed before the room fell silent. But as her consciousness faded, she felt curiosity take root in her thoughts once more.
There were still two hours before midnight, before SEES returned from the roof to bathe and proceed to bed. What was Aigis going to do now?
She wasn't sure at which point her mind had woken up enough to make sense of her surroundings. It could have been caused by one of several things. The light from the hallway shining on her face during the brief moment the door was open, the faint sound of the bathroom door clicking shut, twice in fact, the soft rustling of clothing moving past her, or perhaps even the soft whispers coming from across the room.
All she knew was that, at that very moment, two people were speaking in hushed whispers. She didn't know whether to be grateful or not that they thought she was asleep. Their close proximity to her meant she could hear every word they were saying. What would the consequences be should they learn of it at a later date? Or would they let it go seeing as she hadn't done it on purpose?
Without some sort of power that allowed her to see the future, the answer was beyond her grasp. And the last five words she overheard did not make it any easier to answer.
And that's that for our slightly longer holiday special. Though I do apologize for the chapter's lack of holiday spirit. XD
Not much to say here at this point. Everyone should know by now that everything I've done has been planned out for a long time. Especially the power scale and power balance between Persona and Aura/Semblance.
As I said at the beginning of this chapter, I'm sure there'll be at least one person who'll find a reason to complain, especially with regards to the Yang/Mitsuru match.
As always, I welcome any and all reviews, positive and negative. All I ask is that any criticisms are presented constructively and politely. It can be kindly written or you can be mean about it, but please don't spend half the review cursing me and whatnot for doing something you don't agree with.
Besides, just because Christmas was a week ago doesn't mean we can't practice that same spirit throughout the rest of the year. XD
Anyway, once again…
MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE! ENJOY THE REST OF YOUR HOLIDAYS!
P.S. This chapter was uploaded at precisely midnight from where I am. XD
